THE Warriors will begin their 2025 African Nations Championship (Chan) qualifiers with a first round clash against Eswatini following a draw conducted at the Caf headquarters in Cairo, Egypt, yesterday.
The Chan competition is designed exclusively for footballers playing in their domestic leagues.
Should the Warriors eliminate Eswatini, as is expected, they will face Madagascar in the second round of the qualifiers.
Madagascar received a bye in the first round.
The winner in the Madagascar-Zimbabwe contest will qualify for the Chan finals.
Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania will co-host the uniquely designed competition between February 1 and 28 next year.
The first round of the qualifiers will be played on the weekend of October 25 to 27 and November 1 to 3, with the second round confirmed for December 20 to 22 and December 27 to 29.
Zimbabwe are returning to the competition after missing the previous edition because of an international ban.
- Warriors draw Eswatini in Chan qualifiers
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The Warriors have participated in the tournament five times, with their best performance being a fourth place finish achieved at the 2014 finals in South Africa.
The qualifiers will give new Warriors coach Michael Nees a chance to assess the locally-based players in a competitive game environment.
Nees, who was appointed two months ago, has been a regular feature at local football games, where he has had opportunities to look at players that he can draft into the main Warriors squad.
The German expatriate, who has expressed his admiration for the quality he has seen so far, selected seven locally-based players in goalkeeper Martin Mapisa, Godknows Murwira, Emmanuel Jalai, Brian Banda, Richard Hachiro, Khama Billiat and Walter Musona for the squad set to face Namibia in back-to-back Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers.
The first game is set for Orlando Stadium in South Africa this afternoon while the return leg will be played at the same venue on Monday next week.
Players that will impress Nees against Eswatini could see themselves incorporated into the Warriors squad for the return Afcon qualifiers against Kenya and Cameroon next month.
