The Harambee Stars of Kenya and Warriors of Zimbabwe will be absent in the 2023 African Cup of Nations (AFCON) which is the African showpiece that will be slated to happen in Ivory Coast. This comes following a confirmation from the Confederation of African Football (CAF). The race to the 2023 AFCON begins in June but the two nations will be unable to participate because the ban imposed on them has not yet been lifted. The two countries have not been included in the draw for the qualifiers match on the condition that their ban had to be lifted two weeks before the kick-off of the first match. “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,” read a statement on the CAF website.

Kenya and Zimbabwe's memberships had earlier been suspended by the Federation of International Football Association (FIFA) as a result of government interference. FIFA is very clear on third parties interference in matters of football and does not tolerate even the governments in their respective footballing jurisdictions meddling in their matters. Cabinet Secretary in charge of the Ministry of Sports, Culture, and Heritage in Kenya, Ambassador Amina Mohamed led the take over of football matters from Football Kenya Federation (FKF) by appointing a caretaker committee to oversee matters of football in the country in what the government called a clean up from mismanagement of the game. Once the six months mandate of the caretaker committee lapsed, she then appointed a transitional committee that is expected to complete its task in five weeks before it hands over the mantle back to FKF.