ZIFA president Nqobile Magwizi seeks meeting with CAF president Patrice Motsepe over Zimbabwe sanction

ZIFA president Nqobile Magwizi says he wants to meet CAF president Patrice Motsepe to discuss Zimbabwe’s sanction to play home matches behind closed doors following the death of a supporter at the National Sports Stadium during the Warriors’ AFCON 2027 Qualifiers Group E encounter against DRC.

The fatal incident involved a ZRP vehicle and occurred at Gate 2 around 6:30pm, shortly after the start of the match.

Magwizi told SABC Sport on the sidelines of the CAF Strategy Conference in the Sal Islands, in Cape Verde that he hopes to use the gathering to engage CAF directly and discuss the circumstances surrounding the incident and the subsequent sanction.

“As you may be aware, we are in consultation with CAF. I’m here, I’ve noted a chance to speak to President Motsepe and the GS. I will be speaking with them and, of course, when we meet tomorrow, I will give you a much clearer answer as to where we are,” Magwizi said.

“Yes, there was a challenge which took place in our first match. You can understand there was a lot of excitement and our security plan obviously got a bit overwhelmed.

“Those things were corrected in the second match where we played Mauritius. These are the issues that I need to clear with the general secretary of CAF, as well as the president and, of course, the head of security, so that we can align and agree on the next steps that must be taken to strengthen our security plans and processes for Zimbabwe.”