Zimbabwe will face five-time champions Cameroon, Namibia and Kenya after they were drawn in a tough draw for the 2025 CAF Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers for the continental competition to be held in Morocco.
The draw for the qualifiers was held in Johannesburg on Thursday.
The Warriors’ recent slump on the Fifa rankings ensured that they go into draw in Pot 4 made up of lowly ranked teams.
After missing out on the last qualifiers due to a Fifa suspension, Zimbabwe will be hoping to make it to their sixth Afcon final appearance.
But they will have to be at their best against teams ranked above them and they have struggled to beat over the years.
Currently the team is without a coach after Jairos Tapera mandate expired following the end of the Cosafa campaign this week.
The Warriors’ are the lowest ranked team in the Group sitting in 129th place on the latest Fifa rankings.
Zimbabwe have failed to beat Cameroon, currently ranked 49th in the world, since 1995 and since then they have managed 1 draw and five losses.
Namibia are the second best ranked team on number 97 and have been one of the continent’s rising sides after making it to two of the last three Afcon finals.
The Brave Warriors reached the knockout stages of the last continental championship in Ivory Coast at the beginning of the year.
Kenya, ranked 108, like Zimbabwe missed the last Afcon qualifiers due to a Fifa suspension and have beaten the Warriors twice this year.
The Harambee Stars won 3 – 1 in the final of the Four Nation tournament in Malawi in March before recording another 2 – 0 win in the Cosafa this week.
A total of 48 African countries entered the draw for the race to qualify for the 35th edition of the biennial Africa showpiece .
The qualifiers will start in September 2024 and end in November 2024.
The winners and runners-up in the eleven groups that do not involve tournament hosts Morocco, will gain qualification to the finals.
The TotalEnergies CAF Africa Cup of will be held from 21 December 2025 to 18 January 2026.
Groups:
Group A: Tunisia, Madagascar, Comoros, Gambia
Group B: Morocco, Gabon,Central Africa Republic, Lesotho
Group C: Egypt, Cape Verde, Mauritania, Botswana
Group D: Nigeria, Benin Libya, Rwanda
Group E: Algeria, Equatorial Guinea, Togo, Liberia
Group F: Ghana, Angola, Sudan, Niger
Group G: Cote d’Ivoire, Zambia, Sierra Leone, Chad
Group H: DR Congo, Guinea, Tanzania, Ethiopia
Group I: Mali, Mozambique, Guinea Bissau, Eswatini
Group J: Cameroon, Namibia, Kenya, Zimbabwe
Group K: South Africa, Uganda, Congo, South Sudan
Group L: Senegal, Burkina Faso, Malawi, Burundi