Kenya disqualified from 2023 AFCON qualifiers

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Namibia’s Group C opponent for the upcoming 2023 African Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifiers, Kenya was on Monday removed from the group by the Confederation of African Football (CAF).

This comes after Kenya and Zimbabwe were suspended by the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) in 2021 due to political interference in football matters, meaning they will not be participating in the TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations 2023 qualifiers set to commence on 01 June 2022.

A statement released on the CAF website on Monday stated that CAF had included Kenya and Zimbabwe in the official draw that was held in April 2022 in South Africa, with the condition that the two nations’ suspension will be lifted two weeks before their first match-day.

“As a consequence of having failed to have their suspensions by FIFA set aside, Kenya and Zimbabwe, suspended for political interference, have not yet met the criteria required by the FIFA Congress as a prerequisite for lifting their suspension,” read the statement.

Subsequently, the statement added, 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 by the match schedule that has been communicated to the teams after the draw, while the first and runner-up teams of those groups will qualify for the final tournament to be hosted by Ivory Coast.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency