Tanzania leaves Zebras high and dry
Staff Writer | Thursday March 24, 2022 09:29
Minutes before boarding to Tanzania, the Botswana Football Association (BFA) announced the match had been cancelled. It would have been the Zebras’ first match since July last year. “The match was called off due to Tanzania inviting three countries to play them in this FIFA window.
The FIFA rules guiding/regulating ‘Tier 1’ international matches clearly states that a country can only play two ‘Tier 1’ matches in a particular window.
Tanzania knowingly invited Botswana to a friendly match on March 18 while at the same time they had also entered into the same agreement with two other countries. When the game was to be entered into the system as a ‘Tier 1’ match this was not possible as they already had two matches,” the BFA explained in a statement. “Before Botswana could depart there was a proposal to only play a practice match with Tanzania which amounts to the proposed match being treated like a second Tier match.
As such we decided to take the unpopular decision of not playing in a match that was never in the plans.
The match will also have meant Tanzania will not use their best available players.” The BFA said it takes the issue “as a serious disrespect” from Tanzania. “The practice match carries no value to our focus on improving our FIFA rankings and playing a ‘Tier 1’ friendly ahead of the AFCON Qualifiers.
The BFA is currently looking at closing on an option to play a ‘Tier 1’ friendly match against another country that will be available before the end of this window,” the BFA stated.