The Minister of Sport, Recreation, Arts and Culture, Kirsty Coventry, said that the National Sports Stadium (NSS) will be ready to host international matches when the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers resume in June this year.
As reported by H-Metro, Coventry recently told the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Sport, Recreation, Arts and Culture that some companies have pledged to provide funding to complete the renovations at the National Sports Stadium by April this year.
She, however, did not name the funding companies. Said Coventry:
The reason I will not do that right (name the companies) now is because of the partnerships we have.
They have asked us to give them a bit of time to put certain things in place and then make a formal announcement.
I know it’s not the answer that you want, but the goal is to ensure that we do not play any other game outside of this country and I do believe that we are on track to achieve that.
I do believe our next game is in June and we had set the target of April, so if it’s June, it gives us a little bit of leeway, but I expect that things will be done and CAF will be back in Zimbabwe to visit before April.
Those are the timelines I can share with you right now because I am bound by the MoUs I signed and I have to be as respectful as I can to those private companies that have come forward to offer financial assistance.
The Warriors played their home match in a World Cup qualifier against Nigeria in Rwanda in November 2023 after the CAF ruled that local stadiums were unfit to hold international games.
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