CAF Bans Kigali Stadium From Hosting Qatar 2022 Qualifier

The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has banned the Kigali Stadium in Rwanda from hosting the remaining 2022 World Cup Qualifier against Mali.

This was made known during an inspection visit of as part of the venue’s assessment which discovered that the  Kigali Stadium lacks adequate facilities.

Rwanda are due to play Mali in their last home game on November 11 before travelling to Nairobi for away tie against Kenya.

However, the CAF latest decision will force Rwanda Football Association (FERWAFA) to look on the road for a neutral venue for Amavubi to play their Group E last home match against Mali.

“Kigali Stadium has not been approved by the Security and Safety Department of CAF. Consequently, Rwanda will have to organize the matches in another country with quality lawns,” a statement from CAF reads in part.

The Rwanda FA is reported to be very disappointed with the news as it had high hopes of the facility passing the test considering the effort and resources the association has put in making the facility homologated.

Kigali Stadium hosted some matches of the 2016 Africa Nations Championship (Chan) finals that were hosted by the East Africa country.

African World Cup stadium ban has seen many countries playing their homes matches outside their boarders.

Those affected include Senegal, who competed at the last World Cup in Russia in 2018, and Mali, who were among the top seeded teams for the preliminaries.

Burkina Faso, the Central African Republic, Liberia, Malawi, Mali, Namibia, Niger and Sierra Leone have all not had their home stadiums approved as CAF cracks down on poor infrastructure around the continent.