Online Reporter
Fungai Muderere
Zimpapers Sports Hub
THE Zimbabwe Futsal National Association on Thursday confirmed they have identified veteran coaches Wilson Mutekede and Joseph Sibindi to take charge of the country’s flagship side at the TotalEnergies CAF Futsal Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) Morocco 2026 Qualifiers.
The qualifiers are set to begin in mid-January, ending in February.
It will be the first time that the country’s futsal national take part at this continental stage despite participating in the 1989 World Cup finals.
The draw of the qualifiers was held last Thursday in the city of Rabat, Morocco.
Futsal National president Philani Banda confirmed the latest development. “We now have identified two coaches, Joseph Sibindi and Wilson Mutekede to head the national team,” he said.
“These are two seasoned and we’ll experienced coaches but, we stand guided by the motherbody, Zifa on other positions on the technical bench.”
Banda said in their quest to grow five-a-side in the country, they still face a hurdle in getting financial assistance. “The support is needed. There’s a lot to be done and that needs money. We won’t relax, we will knock on all doors looking for mutually beneficial partnerships.”
A total of 18 national teams will engage in the continental qualifying competition, which will be played over two home-and-away knockout rounds, with seven teams qualifying for the final tournament, in addition to the host nation and defending champions Morocco.
The teams taking part in the qualifiers are, Algeria, Angola, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Côte d’Ivoire, Egypt, Libya, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Senegal, South Sudan, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe were drawn against Tanzania in the preliminary round. The triumphant team between the two countries will go on to meet Cote d’Ivoire. Zimbabwe will play their first leg against Tanzania on January 23 and the second leg will be played five days later.
With regards to the qualification format, it was revealed the qualifiers will be played in two rounds.
In the first round, eight teams will compete, while 10 teams received byes.
In the second round, the four winners from the first round will join the 10 exempted teams to contest for seven places at the final tournament.
All ties will be played over two legs, home and away, with aggregate scores determining the winners.
The Fifa Futsal Men’s World Ranking is used to determine team positions and exemptions for the draw.
The eight lowest-ranked teams, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Kenya, Namibia, Senegal, South Sudan, Tanzania and Zimbabwe, were placed into two pots and drawn in pairs to form four fixtures.
Ten teams that have directly qualified for the second round are Algeria, Angola, Côte d’Ivoire, Egypt, Libya, Ghana, Guinea, Mauritania, Mozambique and Zambia.
Based on the Fifa rankings, Egypt, Libya, Angola and Cote d’Ivoire are the top four.
CAF Futsal Africa Cup of Nations draw in full
Cape Verde, Senegal vs Egypt, Namibia, Kenya v Libya, Cameroon, South Sudan v Angola, Zimbabwe, Tanzania v Ivory Coast, Ghana v Zambia, Mauritania v Mozambique, Guinea v Algeria.
Mathew Masinge