Farai Dziva|The Confederation of African Football banned Barbourfields from hosting international matches because of complaints lodged by Algerian officials that the stadium’s dressing rooms are too small.

The Bulawayo venue was set to host the Warriors and national U20 girls in the Afcon and World Cup qualifiers respectively next month.

But following a visit by a three-man Algerian delegation last week as an advance party who had a tour of the stadium and other facilities, a complaint was lodged at the football body which resulted in the ban from using Emagumeni.

CAF had already condemned other local stadiums and this left Zifa with no other option than to seek an alternative venue in one of the neighbouring countries.

“Those guys claimed Barbourfields Stadium’s dressing rooms were too small for their bloated technical team and they then presented that to CAF who, shockingly, listened to them and decided to effect a ban on Barbourfields Stadium, without even bothering to wait for their grounds inspection team,” a Bulawayo City Council Official told Chronicle.

ZIFA officials yesterday distanced themselves from the Algerians’ tour of the match venue.

“We only facilitated their advance party’s visit to the city, which included a tour of the hotel facilities and other training venue, not the match venue, maybe the City council would know how they got to get into Barbourfields Stadium,” ZIFA spokesperson, Xolisani Gwesela told state media.