Botswana return to play in Francistown again

Francistown will be hosting an international match for the second successive month as Botswana take their World Cup qualifier against Eritrea to the northern city for a rare competitive international outside of the capital Gaborone.

It follows last month’s 1-0 win for the Zebras at home to Burkina Faso in the African Nations Cup qualifiers, which might well turn

“We felt very welcome, we had a good crowd, and most importantly, our team won,” said Botswana Football Association’s (BFA) chief executive officer Kitso Kemoeng as he explained the decision to return.

The new 26,000-capacity Francistown Sports Complex is the source of much pride for Botswana although the BFA hope hiccups around the first match are fixed on Tuesday

“We hope for better planning this time around to ease traffic and avoid situations whereby motorists had to spend hours to get into or out of the stadium,” Kemoeng added.

Botswana play the first leg of their World Cup qualifier in Asmara on Friday.

The winner of the two-legged tie proceeds to the next round of African qualifiers against Mali next month.