HARARE – The Confederation of African Football (CAF) have imposed a two-match stadium ban on the National Sports Stadium in Harare following crowd trouble during an Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Congo-Brazzaville on March 24.
A female football fan died when thousands of fans stampeded outside the ground while trying to get into the stadium for Zimbabwe’s final qualifying match.
CAF has suspended a one match penalty on condition a similar incident does not occur during the next 12 months.
Effectively, Zimbabwe is banned from using the National Sports Stadium for CAF sanctioned matches for one game, ZIFA spokesman Xolisani Gwesela said.
Zimbabwe’s next match at the stadium is an Under-23 Africa Cup of Nations final qualifier against South Africa in September.
“We have other stadia that are homologated by CAF and these are Barbourfields and Mandava. Rufaro used to host internationals but it would need to be re-inspected if it has to be homologated,” Gwesela said.
“As an association, we have to abide by the ruling but the bottom line is we need to ensure such incidents don’t occur in the future. As ZIFA, we tried our best in organising for that particular match and it’s unfortunate we had that incident.”
It is unlikely ZIFA will appeal the CAF ruling, and where the Under 23 match is played is now a toss-up between Barbourfields and Mandava.
The National Sports Stadium is owned by the government through the Local Government Ministry, and Gwesela appealed to the authorities to upgrade security features at the ground for better management of fans.
