Zimbabwe  sports minister Kirsty Coventry has declared that the country has withdrawn from hosting the upcoming Southern Africa Championship in June 2019.

The tournament, which Zimbabwe has won for the last two years, is set to be staged from 19 May to 1 June 2019.

Coventry stated that the country won’t be eligible to host this year’s tournament as there isn’t enough time to complete their preparations for the event.

“Zimbabwe will not be hosting Cosafa  this year, the deal was not good for Zimbabwe or for Zifa [Zimbabwe’s Football Association],” Coventry said on Monday.

“We want to make sure that when we do host an event of this magnitude, that we are fully prepared, we have good timing. We just do not feel that that was really given to us this time around.”RA