The Confederation of African Football has confirmed the Warriors, along with Kenya, have been booted out of the 2023 Afcon Qualifiers.

The elimination comes after the country’s authorities failed to reinstate the ZIFA board in time before the start of the games.

The Sports and Recreation Commission, a government organization, dissolved the board under unconstitutional measures, and this attracted sanctions from FIFA.

The country was banned from taking part in international football and events.

CAF had included Zimbabwe in the draw for the qualifiers provided the SRC reinstate the Felton Kamambo-led executive two weeks before the start of the campaign.

But after failing to heed the orders, the confederation has booted out the Warriors from the games.

In a statement, the continental football body said: “As a consequence of having failed to have their suspensions by FIFA set aside, CAF has confirmed that both Kenya and Zimbabwe will not participate in the TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations Cote d’Ivoire 2023 qualifiers.

“The qualifiers will kick-off on the first day of June 2022.

“CAF had included them in the official draw earlier in April 2022 on condition that the suspension must be lifted two weeks before their first match day.

“Kenya and Zimbabwe, suspended for political interference, have not yet met the criteria required by the FIFA Congress as a prerequisite for lifting their suspension.”

The statement adds that Group C, which had Kenya and Group K (Zimbabwe) will be composed only of three teams and the order of the matches will be maintained in accordance with the match schedule that has been communicated to the teams after the draw.

The first and runner-up teams of those groups will qualify to the final tournament.