South African stadiums for World Cup qualifiers

Lesotho and Zimbabwe will be using South African stadia to host their World Cup qualifiers next month but Namibia have ditched the country as their alternate home base and moved matches to Botswana.

Lesotho are playing next Friday’s Group C game against Bafana Bafana in Bloemfontein, which is a massive bonus for South African hopes of qualifying.

Lesoto are among the countries banned from using facilities at home because they are not up to international standard.

Zimbabwe also continues to host their matches in South Africa after a recent inspection of renovations at the National Sports Stadium in Harare did not meet with the approval of the Confederation of African Football, who continue to blacklist the venue.

That means Zimbabwe’s Group C game against Rwanda on Tuesday, September 9 will be hosted at the Orlando Stadium in Soweto.

Eswatini regularly use Mbombela Stadium as their home ground in the absence of a suitable ground in the kingdom but next month play two successive away qualifiers while Namibia have gone for a cheaper option and are hosting two Group H games at Francistown in Botswana.

Namibia last played a match in Windhoek in March 2021, more than four years ago. Since then, their home games in both Africa Cup of Nations and World Cup qualifiers have all been played in South Africa, either at Dobsonville Stadium, where they beat Cameroon to qualify for the 2023 Cup of Nations finals, or the Orlando Stadium, Soccer City and lastly Polokwane, where they drew 1-1 with Equatorial Guinea in March.

Their record hosting games in South Africa is a poor one, with a single victory, six draws, and four defeats.

But now they will be hosting both Malawi and São Tomé and Príncipe in September in Francistown, to save costs.

WORLD CUP QUALIFIERS IN SEPTEMBER

Wed Sept 3

Seychelles v Gabon, St Pierre (Mauritius)

Thurs Sept 4

Mauritius v Cape Verde Islands, St Pierre

Chad v Ghana, Ndjamena

Angola v Libya, Luanda

Guinea-Bissau v Sierra Leone, Bissau

Madagascar v Central African Republic, Casablanca (Morocco)

São Tomé e Príncipe v Equatorial Guinea, Oudja (Morocco)

Algeria v Botswana, Tizi Ouzou

Cameroon v Eswatini, Yaoundé

Mali v Comoros, Berkane (Morocco)

Senegal v Sudan, Dakar

Tunisia v Liberia, Tunis

Friday Sept 5

Somalia v Guinea, Kampala (Uganda)

South Sudan v DR Congo, Juba

Kenya v Gambia, Nairobi

Namibia v Malawi, Francistown (Botswana)

Benin v Zimbabwe, Abidjan (Ivory Coast)

Congo v Tanzania, Brazzaville

Djibouti v Burkina Faso, Bissau (Guinea-Bissau)

Lesotho v South Africa, Bloemfontein (South Africa)

Uganda v Mozambique, Kampala

Egypt v Ethiopia, Cairo

Ivory Coast v Burundi, Abidjan

Mauritania v Togo, Nouadhibou

Morocco v Niger, Rabat

Sat Sept 6

Nigeria v Rwanda, Uyo

Sun Sept 9

Central African Republic v Comoros, Meknes (Morocco)

Mon Sept 8

Equatorial Guinea v Tunisia, Malabo

Mozambique v Botswana, Maputo

Tanzania v Niger, Zanzibar

Zambia v Morocco, Ndola

Guinea-Bissau v Djibouti, Bissau

Guinea v Algeria, Casablanca (Morocco)

Madagascar v Chad, Casablanca (Morocco)

Malawi v Liberia, Lilongwe

Uganda v Somalia, Kampala

Ghana v Mali, Accra

Libya v Eswatini, Benghazi

Tues Sept 9

Kenya v Seychelles, Nairobi

Namibia v Sao Tome e Principe, Francistown (Botswana)

Sierra Leone v Ethiopia, Monrovia (Liberia)

Zimbabwe v Rwanda, Johannesburg (South Africa)

Angola v Mauritius, Luanda

Benin v Lesotho, Abidjan (Ivory Coast)

Burkina Faso v Egypt, Ouagadougou

Cape Verde v Cameroon, Praia

DR Congo v Senegal, Kinshasa

South Africa v Nigeria, Bloemfontein

Togo v Sudan, Lome

Gabon v Ivory Coast, Franceville

Gambia v Burundi, Nairobi (Kenya)

Mauritania v South Sudan, Nouadhibou