Kenya has been drawn in Group B of the 2024 COSAFA Cup tournament alongside Zimbabwe, Zambia, and the Comoros.
The tournament will be staged in Durban, South Africa from 26 June to 7 July.
Malawi had been drawn in Group B but withdrew from the tournament as the country is currently in mourning following the death of Vice President Saulos Klaus Chilima.
The Harambe Stars’ participation was confirmed by the Kenyan FA boss Nick Mwendwa, telling Capital FM website:
CECAFA this year has been cancelled and we are lucky that we have been invited to Port Elizabeth because of our performance. We have not lost this year. This is a great opportunity for us. That consistent work we are putting in, if we support it, we will get results.
The 2024 COSAFA Cup meeting will mark the second time that Zimbabwe and Kenya have played each other this year after the two nations participated in the Four-nation tournament in Malawi in March. The Harambe Stars beat the Warriors 3-1.
Group A has South Africa, Mozambique, Eswatini and Botswana, while Group C has Angola, Namibia, Lesotho, and Seychelles.
The three pool winners and the best runner-up will advance to the semifinals.
The island nations of Madagascar and Mauritius have opted not to compete in 2024.
Meanwhile, Warriors interim coach Jairos Tapera said he will overhaul the squad that was initially announced by the ZIFA Normalisation Committee for the tournament. He said:
Definitely the squad that you saw will be changed. We are going to sit down with my technical team to work on a new team since we would want to base our squad on under-23 selections.
Given that we have to look into the future, we feel this is a tournament to give opportunities to players who have shown promise and are still under the age of 23 years.
Of course, there will be one or two experienced players to make up the spine of the team. So, we are trying to build from there.
But those other players under the age of 23 who have already graduated from the senior team will not be called up because they have already proved themselves.
There is no reason we should be calling someone like Tawanda Chirewa, we should be paving the way for others.
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