REIGNING Castle Lager Premier Soccer League champions FC Platinum and Chibuku Super Cup holders Bulawayo Chiefs were excluded from the Caf Champions League and Confederation Cup preliminary draw held in Cairo, Egypt, yesterday.
Chairman of the recently-appointed Zifa normalisation committee, Lincoln Mutasa said Zimbabwe will only be able to send teams to the Caf inter-club competitions next year following the country’s suspension from international football by Fifa. The suspension was only lifted two weeks ago.
Mutasa said FC Platinum and The Ninjas miss out because when clubs were slotted in, Zimbabwe was under the Fifa sanction.
“The teams were entered when we were under suspension. We will only be able to send teams to the inter-club competitions next year,” Mutasa said. FC Platinum won the league title for the fourth time in a row last year, while Chiefs were the winners of the Chibuku Super Cup after beating Herentals in the final.
However, the Warriors have been included in the 2026 World Cup African Zone qualifiers where they have been drawn against South Africa’s Bafana Bafana, the Eagles of Nigeria, Rwanda, Lesotho and Benin. Zimbabwe was suspended from international football in February last year over government interference.
A fortnight ago, Fifa lifted the ban and appointed a four-member normalisation committee, chaired by Mutasa to work with former Mighty Warriors’ player and coach Rosemary Mugadza, ex-Highlanders player Sikhumbozo Ndebele and lawyer Nyasha Sanyamandwe towards restoring normalcy in local football. The quartet will run football affairs for the next 12 months before a substantive board is elected into office.
