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Sikhumbuzo Moyo, Senior Sports Reporter

IN a development that will anger Bulawayo football fans, Caf has ordered Zifa to shift the Warriors’ Total Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Botswana from Barbourfields Stadium to the National Sports Stadium in Harare due to uncertainty over the venue’s floodlight system.

The match, set for November 15, will be played at 6PM.

Pleas by Zifa to have the match played in the afternoon hit a brick wall, as Caf argued that all matches will be played simultaneously in the evening and therefore the Zimbabwe and Botswana encounter wouldn’t be an exception.

“The decision to move the match follows communication from the Bulawayo City Council (BCC) on the issue of floodlights at Barbourfields Stadium where they could not guarantee their good working order as they were last put to use in 2017 during the Cosafa Women’s Championship. In the absence of such a guarantee and in pursuit of conformance with their minimum requirements,

Caf has switched the match to the National Sports Stadium to avoid potential of floodlight failure during the match, a situation that could trigger security risk to the fans, players and officials. Zifa had pleaded with the continental mother body to move the match to 3PM on the same day, but Caf could not grant the request as all qualifiers across Africa will be played at 6PM,” said Zifa communications and competitions manager Xolisani Gwesela.

He said the association remains fully committed to hosting future matches played in the afternoon in Bulawayo to allow fans an opportunity to watch their national team in action.

“The Zifa executive committee commits to host the next international match which is to be played during daylight at Barbourfields Stadium and that we remain committed to a rotation system that will allow all fans an opportunity to support their team in flesh and blood,” he said.

This is the second time this year that a last-minute decision has been made to move a match set for Barbourfields Stadium to the capital. The first being the Fifa World Cup preliminary match against Somalia.

The Somalia match had to be moved after the Somalis failed to get flights on time resulting in a situation where the match was supposed to have been moved by 24 hours, which would unfortunately have clashed with the Under-23s’ Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against South Africa.