Africa-Press – Eswatini. Eswatini senior men’s football team Sihlangu Semnikati will have to travel to Morocco in order to play their first leg of the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) 2025 Qualifiers against Somalia.
The nation’s pride is scheduled to face The Ocean Stars next month over two legs from March 20 to 26, and will begin their campaign away before the return match a week later, as hosts to Somalia.
Just like Eswatini, Somalia do not have a CAF approved stadium; with the only national stadium they have the Mogadishu Stadium, not being suitable for hosting matches. In fact the stadium was recently refurbished and only started hosting competitive football games last year in December.
Prior the stadium was a base for Ethiopian troops between 2007 and 2009, and was then occupied by al-Shabab militants from 2009 to 2011. Most recently, between 2012 and 2018, the stadium was a base for African Union peacekeepers.
That has meant Somalia have had to host FIFA and CAF sanctioned competitions outside the country and their preferred destination over the past two international assignments has been Morocco.
According to Somali online publication Somali Athlete, the national team will be heading to Morocco for the match against Eswatini, with the venue yet to be confirmed.
“It is confirmed that the first leg between Somalia and Eswatini will take place in Morocco, while the second leg will take place in South Africa,” reads part of the statement by the publication.
The two stadiums are the Berkane Municipal Stadium where they played Uganda in the World Cup Qualifiers last year, and the Berrechid Municipal Stadium where they played Sierra Leone in an international friendly. Sihlangu Semnikati head coach Dominic Kunene said the venue would not affect their preparations heading into the match.
“It does not matter where we play as long as we have prepared well for the match, we can face them anywhere,” he said.
The last time Sihlangu played Somalia was at the Benjamin Mkapa Stadium in Tanzania in 2022 where Sihlangu won 3-0, followed by a 2-1 victory in the return leg.
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