Zimbabwe pulls out of Region 5 Youth Games

By Geronimo News

The emergence of the COVID-19 Omicron variant has dealt the Zimbabwe under 17 boys’ and girls’ national teams a major blow as they could not travel to the ongoing Region 5 Youth Games due to travel restrictions.

The games roared into life in Lesotho today (Wednesday) with the boys’ football competition taking centre stage in the capital Maseru.

Zimbabwe is not the only nation to pull out at the eleventh hour and are joined by the Seychelles boys and Comoros girls’ teams among the countries which have also failed to make the trip.

Confirming the development, the Council of Southern Africa Football Associations (COSAFA) said the games will be shortened after being hit by a number of withdrawals.

“The emergence of the Omicron variant and subsequent travel difficulties associated with it have forced more changes to the fixtures for the boys’ and girls’ football competitions at the Region 5 Games Maseru 2020. The tournaments have already been hit by a number of withdrawals hence both competitions have been shortened, with the boys to run from December 1-7 and the girls from December 2-6,” read part of the statement by COSAFA.

Initially, Zimbabwe had pulled out of the competition owing to lack of activity especially in the lower and junior leagues since the onset of the COVID-19 induced lockdowns in 2020.

Due to pressure from stakeholders of the game who said the decision was the biggest impediment towards the growth and development of junior football in the country, the Zimbabwe Football Association (ZIFA) was then forced to make a sensational u-turn to allow the teams to participate at the tournament.