July 11 – FIFA has lifted its 18-month suspension of the Zimbabwe Football Association (ZIFA) just days before the draw for the African qualifying competition for the 2026 World Cup.
An interim normalisation committee has been appointed to run the affairs of ZIFA until elections for a new management team are held but by the end of the June 2024 at the latest.
Zimbabwe was kicked out in February last year following perceived government interference in the running of the troubled football association.
The executive committee of ZIFA was ordered dissolved in November 2021 by the country’s Sports and Recreation Commission, a government-appointed body, amid allegations that money given to the association by the state for Zimbabwe’s participation at the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations finals was misappropriated.
FIFA’s move followed the Sports and Recreation Commission’s decision to lift its own suspension of the ZIFA executive, which led to the original ban.
Zimbabwe played in the qualifiers for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, but were barred from taking part in the preliminaries for the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations finals in Ivory Coast.
A FIFA delegation was in Zimabwbe last week for negotiations which have resulted in the world governing body softening its stance.
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