Zimpapers Logo

THE national Under 23 has received a huge boost ahead of their Under 23 Championship qualifying campaign following the withdrawal of Senegal from the qualifying round since they are now hosting the December games.

In March, Senegal replaced DR Congo as hosts of the second edition of the youth tourney following the withdrawal of the latter from the organisation of the tournament citing an unhealthy political environment owing to the forthcoming Presidential elections.

Confederation of African Football (Caf) Competitions Deputy Director, Khaled Nassar advised Zifa of the new qualifying format which will see Zimbabwe starting from the second round against Swaziland. South Africa will be waiting in the third and final round of qualifiers.

“Following the withdrawal of DR Congo from the organisation of the tournament which is now organised by Senegal, Senegal isn’t participating in the qualifiers.

“The initial fixtures before the withdrawal of DRC was as follows: Zimbabwe vs Swaziland winner was going to play against South Africa in the 2nd round and the winner from the 2nd round was going to play against Senegal in the 3rd Round.

“Now that Senegal aren’t playing the qualifiers, the winner of Zimbabwe/Swaziland vs South Africa will qualify directly to the final tournament (according to a Caf Executive Committee decision),” Nassar said.

The letter further confirmed the new dates for the qualifying matches.

“Furthermore, Caf Executive Committee decided to play the matches Zimbabwe vs Swaziland on the dates of the 2nd round. And the following match on the dates of the 3rd round,” he added.

Zimbabwe will play Swaziland in the 1st leg second round qualifier on the weekend of 22-24 May while the return leg will be on 29-31 May.

If the Young Warriors knock out Swaziland, South Africa will be the next hurdle with the first and second legs scheduled for June 17-19 and July 31-02 August respectively.

The Caf Under 23 Championship acts as qualifiers to the 2016 Rio Olympic Games with the three top teams automatically qualifying while the fourth placed team engages a team from the Asian Football Confederation in a playoff.

The quadrennial youth tournament was founded in 2011 and Gabon won the inaugural edition beating hosts Morocco 2-1.

This year’s edition is set to run from 5 to 19 December.

The 1st and 2nd leg of the second round Caf U-23 Championship qualifier fall within the same period that the 2015 Confederation of Southern African Football Associations (Cosafa) will be underway in South Africa.

Zifa spokesperson, Xolisani Gwesela revealed, through the Association’s official website www.zifa,org.zw, that the mother body will decide by Monday which teams to use for the two tournaments.

“We wanted to use the U23s for both the Cosafa and the U23 Championship, but we have an unfortunate scenario of dates that are clashing.

“We will come with a position by Tuesday latest on which team to use for Cosafa and the U23 Championship.

“On other logistics we will be guided by Cosafa,” he said.

Gwesela also said the Young warriors were supposed to begin camp in preparation for the 1st round qualifier against Swaziland on Monday.

“The technical team had already released the names of players they intended to work with and the process of securing them had commenced ,” he added

The Cosafa tournament will run from May 17 to 31. — zifa.co.zw