Bingu National Stadium (BNS) will host Ethiopia’s opening home match of the 2023 AFCON group qualifiers against Egypt, the Confederation of African Football (CAF) has announced.
This follows Ethiopian Football Federation request to CAF to use BNS as their national stadium is banned to host international matches for lacking minimum requirements as per the CAF Club Licensing criteria.
Last week CAF gave BNS a temporal approval to host international matches following an inspection that was carried out by CAF Inspector Ivan Lengwe Mumba from Zambia.
Malawi will play Ethiopia at the BNS on June 2 and the East Africans will remain in the country to host Egypt four days later.
A letter from CAF to Ethiopia FA signed by Developmental Director Raul Chipendo reads: “Please note that the approved stadium (BNS) will be set as the venue to host the Matchday 2 Group D Ethiopia vs Egypt related to the group stage qualifiers of the Africa Cup of Nations Cote d Ivorie 2023 Match Day 1.”
FAM General Secretary Alfred Gunda confirmed that FAM has reached an agreement with EFF on the use of the BNS and thanked government for granting the approval to this effect.
“Ethiopia FA wrote us a few days ago requesting us to facilitate their use of BNS for home matches. We also engaged government through the Ministry of sports, and they gave us a go ahead and therefore CAF has scheduled the match at BNS.
“This is a fantastic opportunity for Malawi to showcase to the world the iconic Bingu National Stadium and the beauty that Malawi, the Warm Heart of Africa has to offer.
“It’s a timely opportunity for football to contribute economically with inflows of forex by the visiting teams and supporters from both Egypt and Ethiopia,” said Gunda.
