The Warriors’ home fixture against Lesotho in the upcoming World Cup qualifiers will be played in South Africa, since Zimbabwe is still without a stadium certified to host international matches.

Despite numerous promises by Sports Minister Kirsty Coventry that the National Sports Stadium will be renovated in time for the upcoming qualifiers slated for June, the giant facility is still not on the list of facilities certified by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) to host the games.

Rufaro Stadium is still being renovated and even struggled to get the ZIFA First Instance Board (FIB)’s approval for the hosting of Premier Soccer League (PSL) matches.

The iconic venue and is no where near meeting international standards.

Consequently, the stadia crisis will force the ZIFA Normalisation Committee to once again find an alternative venue for a World Cup qualifier, having hosted Nigeria in Rwanda on match day 2.

While the Lincoln Mutasa-led administration has not lifted the lid on their plans as far as the alternative venue is concerned, a source privy to ongoings told Soccer24 that the Lesotho match will be hosted in South Africa.

“The Warriors-Lesotho game will be played in South Africa, what’s on left is confirmation on the exact city,” said the source.

“The Normalisation Committee chose South Africa because it is obviously cheaper, since the Warriors will also play Bafana Bafana in South Africa, days later.

”Also, the fact that there are many Zimbabweans in South Africa clearly means the team will have support, which is also another fact which necessitated the decision made by the Normalisation Committee,” added the source.

Zimbabwe are in Group C and currently anchor the log standings with two points from their opening two matches against Rwanda and Nigeria.

They play Lesotho and South Africa between June 3 and 10.

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