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Eddie Chikamhi Senior Sports Reporter

THE ball is firmly in Zimbabwe’s court to participate in international tournaments organised by the Confederation of African Football as the Warriors are being considered in the upcoming qualifiers for the CHAN tournament despite their suspension from the international football family by FIFA.

The Warriors are among the 47 countries that have been engaged by CAF and were supposed to be part of the Total Energies CHAN 2023 draw that was scheduled to take place today.

The draw, however, has since been postponed. CAF yesterday said they will advise of the new dates.

“The TotalEnergies CHAN Algeria 2023 qualification draw initially scheduled for Friday, 29 April 2022 has been postponed. CAF will communicate new dates in due course. We apologize for any inconvenience caused,” said CAF in a statement.

CHAN is the second-tier of men’s football on the continent. Unlike the flagship AFCON, the competing national teams must be composed of players playing in their domestic leagues.

To their credit, CAF have left the window wide open for Zimbabwe as the Warriors were also included in the 2023 AFCON qualifiers, whose draw was conducted a fortnight ago.

However, their participation will be premised on the strict condition that they mend their relations with FIFA and have their suspension lifted at least two weeks before the kick off of the AFCON 2023 qualifiers.

The AFCON qualifiers have been slated for the end of May while the CHAN 2023 qualifiers are expected to begin in July. Zimbabwe and Kenya have been in the spotlight after they were suspended by FIFA due to third party interference with the running of the sport.

They have at least until mid-May to have the suspensions lifted if they hope to be part of the football jamboree, which begins on May 30 with the first AFCON 2023 qualifiers.

Zimbabwe have traditionally done well to qualify regularly for the CHAN tournament since the inaugural competition in Cote d’Ivoire in 2009, which was by invitation.

The Warriors also made it to the 2011 competition in Sudan where they however failed to make it beyond the group stage.

CAF then realigned the CHAN years to 2014, with the third edition being staged in Cape Town, South Africa. It was at that tournament when the Warriors, then under the guidance of their former striker Ian Gorowa, reached their finest hour, by finishing fourth in the competition.

Two years later at the 2016 edition in Rwanda, the Warriors were also among the 16 sides but they could not progress in a group that also included Zambia and Uganda.

Zimbabwe were part of the finalists again last year in Cameroon but they returned home winless after going to the tournament with no local football being played because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

They have been offered a chance to be part of the cast at the next biennial football tournament to be held in Algeria in 2023, despite their tricky standing with FIFA.

Morocco are defending champions after defeating Mali in the final of the 2021 edition staged in Cameroon.

CHAN 2023 was originally scheduled to be played from July 10 to August 1, 2022 but has since been rescheduled to run from January 8 to January 31 next year due to the fixture complications caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The teams will be drawn into 12 groups of four teams (Group A to L) with the top two teams from each group qualifying for the tournament to be played in the North African country.

The hosts will also participate in the draw even though they have already secured their place in the tournament, which means only one other team from their group will qualify for the competition.

Even with their temporary suspension by FIFA, Zimbabwe will also be included in the draw.

Notwithstanding if the suspension is not lifted two weeks before their first match of the qualifiers, the associations will be considered losers and eliminated from the competition.

Zimbabwe’s chances to take part in the competitions remain uncertain because of the stand-off between the local football leadership at ZIFA and the Sports Commission, which is yet to be resolved.

ZIFA were suspended by FIFA for third party interference after the Sports Commission had suspended the bungling ZIFA board led by Felton Kamambo in November last year.

The suspended board faced several allegations which included lack of transparency with public funds, maladministration, vote-buying during election time and the sexual harassment of female referees.

FIFA have said as part of the conditions for Zimbabwe’s suspension to be lifted, the Sports Commission have to reverse their decision and instate the suspended board, and facilitate the withdrawal of the court cases being faced by some of the board members, among other demands.

However, the Sports Commission have made it clear they will only be able to approach FIFA after completing a thorough clean-up in the administration of the game.

Just like their Zimbabwean counterparts, the Kenyan authorities have also been categorical that they will only engage FIFA when they have ‘cleared the mess’ within FKF.

Kenya attracted the wrath of FIFA after the KFK national executive committee led by Nick Mwendwa was disbanded by the Cabinet Secretary for Sports, Amina Mohamed for “fiscal mismanagement”.

While Zimbabwe have been included in both tournaments, Kenya are conspicuous by their absence in the shortlist for the CHAN draw.