HARARE -Zimbabwe will play their upcoming international home ties in neighbouring countries after the Confederation of African Football (CAF) condemned all the country’s stadiums.

The Zimbabwe Football Association (ZIFA) announced on Tuesday that “CAF has advised us to ‘select homologated stadiums in countries of other CAF members’ for the match set for March 29″ against Algeria.

They are due to host Algeria in March in the Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers and finish that campaign at home to Zambia in September.

The World Cup qualifiers get under way in October, though the fixtures have yet to be released. Zimbabwe have been drawn in a pool with Ghana, South Africa and Ethiopia.

ZIFA said it was appealing the decision, while adding that it had “started the process of looking for an alternative venue in neighbouring countries to host our upcoming matches.”

The debacle is a major embarrassment for Sports Ministry Kirsty Coventry and ZIFA boss Felton Kamambo.

ZIFA appeared to blame local authorities and the government who own the stadiums for failing to make improvements recommended by CAF following stadium inspections conducted in November last year.

CAF completely ruled out the National Sports Stadium and Rufaro was so badly neglected, particularly the pitch, ZIFA never put it up for inspection.

CAF inspectors recommended improvements to Barbourfields Stadium, owned by the Bulawayo City Council, and Mandava Stadium in Zvishavane which is owned by Premier Soccer League champions, FC Platinum.

ZIFA had provisionally designated Barbourfields to host the Algeria match, but a lack of communication between the association and the Bulawayo City Council appears to have brought about the latest crisis.

In a statement, ZIFA said: “While Mandava and the National Sports Stadium were completely struck off the roster, Barbourfields was provisionally certified on the condition that issues raised in the inspection report would be addressed.

“Stadium authorities were notified of CAF’s position and the urgent nature of the situation at hand. To date, neither of the three stadium authorities has requested us to invite CAF for another inspection, a position which CAF has said led to the decision to bar all three stadiums from hosting international matches.”

The bizarre statement that it was the Bulawayo City Council which should have triggered a fresh inspection will likely draw a strong response from the local authority, which has clashed with ZIFA before.

CAF had recommended that the Barbourfields floodlights be fixed and demanded the addition of “five individual seated toilets” in the dressing rooms, a massage table in each dressing room, a tactical board (white board/flip chart with pens) as well as good ventilation or air-conditioning.

CAF also wants a doping room which must be near the teams’ dressing rooms. It must be “inaccessible to any person that is not involved with the doping control process,” it said in an inspection report released in December.

The doping room, added CAF, must be equipped with a television set, a refrigerator equipped with non-alcoholic drinks, sealed mineral water bottles, wastepaper bin for bottles, a ventilator and sufficient seating for at least eight people. The toilet area must be immediately next to the doping control room with direct private access.

CAF said numbered bucket seats must be fixed to the floor at Barbourfields, and the Bulawayo City Council should issue a safety certificate detailing the maximum fans allowed inside the stadium.

A lack of floodlights at Mandava was the stadium’s major drawback. It is reputed to have the best surface in the country.

The National Sports Stadium’s major undoing was the pitch, which is damaged from hosting several non-football related events in recent months.

ZIFA said it would be engaging the Bulawayo City Council about compliance, before requesting an urgent inspection in the hope of avoiding the embarrassment of playing away from home.

“In this moment, we urge all stakeholders to work for a common cause for us to quickly right this wrong which takes away our sovereignty. We have been using stadiums which do not meet CAF and FIFA standards for a while now, but we need to put our heads together as a country to ensure that our stadiums are renovated to meet required standards,” ZIFA said.

The association said it “unreservedly apologises for inconveniences that this decision has brought”, adding: “We are hopeful that everyone who has influence to expedite the process of bringing our teams back home will do their part.”

See ZIFA’s statement below:

The Zimbabwe Football Association (ZIFA) would like to inform the football fraternity and the nation that it has received correspondence from the Confederation of African Football that our stadiums do not meet Confederation of African Football (CAF) standards to host international matches.

Consequently, CAF has made a decision to bar ZIFA from using local stadiums in all upcoming international matches. The decision by CAF comes against the background of a CAF stadium inspection which was conducted in November 2019 and the subsequent inspection report circulated on the 1st of December which stipulated areas of improvement for our three stadiums, Barbourfields, Mandava and the National Sports Stadium (NSS), to be fully homologated.

While Mandava and NSS were completely struck off the roster, Barbourfields was provisionally certified on the condition that issues raised in the inspection report would be addressed. Stadium authorities were notified of CAF’s position and the urgent nature of the situation at hand. To date, neither of the three stadium authorities has requested us to invite CAF for another inspection, a position which CAF has said led to the decision to bar all three stadiums from hosting international matches.

While ZIFA is engaging CAF with a view to appeal this decision, we have asked stadium authorities to send us commitment letters detailing timelines on work that needs to be done before CAF comes for another inspection. Once we receive such commitment, we will send to CAF.

In this moment we urge all stakeholders to work for a common cause for us to quickly right this wrong which takes away our sovereignty. We have been using stadiums which do not meet CAF and FIFA standards for a while now, but we need to put our heads together as a country to ensure that our stadiums are renovated to meet required standards.

We unreservedly apologise to all football stakeholders for inconveniences that the decision has brought. We are hopeful that everyone who has influence to expedite the process of bringing our teams back home will do their part.

Meanwhile , we have also started the process of looking for an alternative venue in neighbouring countries to host our upcoming matches.