CAF Withdraw Two Countries from AFCON Qualifying Games [See Details]

The Confederation of African Football ( CAF), has confirmed that both Zimbabwe and Kenya with not participate in the AFCON qualifying games.

The news was confirmed by the body governing football in Africa, CAF on Monday, May 23rd, 2022. According to reports from the body, the decision was taken by FIFA because of the political interference in both Zimbabwe and Kenya.

As a consequence of having failed to have their suspensions by FIFA set aside, CAF has confirmed that both Kenya and Zimbabwe will not participate in the TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations Cote d’Ivoire 2023 qualifiers. The qualifiers will kick off on the first day of June 2022.

Both teams were involved in the draw under the assumption that the ban by FIFA will be rescinded two weeks before the first qualifying set of games.

Because of the suspension, the following will apply: 

The two associations; Football Kenya Federation (FKF) and the Zimbabwe Football Association (ZIFA)will be considered losers and eliminated from the competition. Groups C and K will be composed only of three teams and the order of the matches will be maintained in accordance with the match schedule that has been communicated to the teams after the draw. The first and runner-up teams of those groups will qualify for the final tournament

The top two teams at the end of the qualifying games will book automatic tickets to the African Cup lf Nations that will be hosted in Ivory Coast in 2023.