What are the preparations of our National football team prior to the World Cup qualifiers in September?
The next FIFA World Cup is going to be the biggest football world cup ever. As such, the qualifiers held in September 2025 have a lot of importance. Each geographical region has their own football association, with some countries getting automatic qualification for the World Cup, while others have to fight it out for a last few spots for that region.
For Africa, this is CAF, which has nine spots into the event, though none have been won yet. The preliminary tournament for the continent began in November 2023, but will culminate in September 2025. There are 53 CAF nations competing in eight groups with six teams. Each group winner will qualify automatically for the FIFA World Cup 26. Then, the four best runners-up will enter the play-off stage to find out which one will make it to the FIFA Play-off Tournament.
With this all happening in the autumn, it’s time to look and see how the Zimbabwean team is preparing.
Enter Group C
Zimbabwe have been drawn in Group C, which means they’re going to be battling it out against Nigeria, South Africa, Benin, Rwanda and Lesotho. This is all going down from 1st to 9th September.
Unfortunately for the team, it looks like there will be no home games during the qualifiers for Zimbabwe. Not only is this a huge disappointment for fans who will now have to travel to see their national team play, but it does put the Warriors at a slight disadvantage. No home games does change things a bit.
This is all down to unfortunate upgrades in facilities. There were due to be a number of home games for Zimbabwe, but the National Sports Stadium renovations have been slow, with the stadium not meeting FIFA requirements As such, the qualifying round with only away games could dent the team’s chances for success. The team has already made it this far thanks to the ban on the team being lifted, but it still seems like there are many hurdles to jump before reaching the World Cup itself can be achieved.
Current standings
It’s still not looking great for the Warriors. They’re already sitting bottom of the Group C table, with just two points from four games. They’ve had two defeats and two draws, which sees them sitting at rather longer odds on Premier Bet Zimbabwe. But this doesn’t mean things can’t change for the better. There are three surprise leaders at the moment in the form of Benin, South Africa and Rwanda, all of whom are on seven points. Lesotho has five and the Nigeria, surprisingly only has three. As such, there’s the chance to get more points.
However, this was really the goal if they had home games. But, as mentioned, these are no longer going to happen due to the lack of CAF and FIFA-approved stadiums within the country. If the country can get the stadium ready by October though, fortunes could be reversed and the team may be able to host South Africa at home.
Team setup
Over the course of 2025, the team and coach have done everything possible to get the team ready for these final qualifiers in the hopes of getting more points. For one, the German coach, Nees, has started mixing and blending younger talents into the senior team, getting them used to the higher performance required in the Zimbabwe squad. A solid effort has been made to strengthen and improve the team at every turn, giving them the best footing on which to play against their rivals in the coming months.
At this time, it’s really all about mental preparation. The coaching team has done all they can to integrate new talent into an established team. With the complete lack of any home games looking likely, the team has also focused on remaining solid and dealing with the impact fewer fans will have. There’s a lot at stake for the team too, but as the underdogs, there’s far less pressure to do well. Of course, it’s all for the fans who would love to see Zimbabwe make it out of the groups and qualify for the World Cup next year.
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