Zimbabwe has withdrawn from hosting this year’s COSAFA Cup set to take place from 19 May to 1 June.

According to the BBC Sports, Zimbabwe’s Minister of Youth, Sports, Art and Recreation, Hon. Kirsty Coventry announced on Monday that unpreparedness and wrong timing have worked against the hosting of the tournament.

“We will not be hosting the COSAFA games this year but we look forward to having adequate time to be able to host a world class event in the near future. We want to make sure that when we do host an event of this magnitude, that we are fully prepared, [and] we have good timing. We just do not feel that that was really given to us this time around. Moving forward, we will continue to work closely with ZIFA in terms of what the next steps are and what the future holds in terms of hosting the event,” said Coventry.

And Zimbabwe Football Association (ZIFA) president Felton Kamambo said that the Zimbabwean football team will still participate in the tournament wherever it will be hosted.

“As ZIFA, our team will be participating in the COSAFA tournament, wherever it’s going to be held. We will try and bid for future hosting of COSAFA, that is maybe from 2021 going upwards, so that we have enough time, like the minister has said, to prepare to host this tournament,” said Kamambo.