diff --git a/changelogs/fragments/11947-zypper-repository-remove-broken.yml b/changelogs/fragments/11947-zypper-repository-remove-broken.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..58078a3a9e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelogs/fragments/11947-zypper-repository-remove-broken.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+bugfixes:
+  - zypper_repository - allow unreachable ``.repo`` URLs and missing local paths when using ``state=absent`` (https://github.com/ansible-collections/community.general/issues/5769, https://github.com/ansible-collections/community.general/pull/11947).
diff --git a/plugins/modules/zypper_repository.py b/plugins/modules/zypper_repository.py
index fce241d60a..f925292574 100644
--- a/plugins/modules/zypper_repository.py
+++ b/plugins/modules/zypper_repository.py
@@ -394,53 +394,69 @@ def main():
 
     # Download / Open and parse .repo file to ensure idempotency
     if repo and repo.endswith(".repo"):
+        repofile_text = None
         if repo.startswith(("http://", "https://")):
             response, info = fetch_url(module=module, url=repo, force=True)
             if not response or info["status"] != 200:
-                module.fail_json(msg="Error downloading .repo file from provided URL")
-            repofile_text = to_text(response.read(), errors="surrogate_or_strict")
+                if state == "absent":
+                    # Fall back to alias derived from URL filename (convention: section == basename)
+                    module.warn(
+                        f"Could not download .repo file from '{repo}'; will try to identify repository by alias"
+                    )
+                    alias = alias or repo.rsplit("/", 1)[-1][:-5]
+                    repodata["alias"] = alias
+                else:
+                    module.fail_json(msg="Error downloading .repo file from provided URL")
+            else:
+                repofile_text = to_text(response.read(), errors="surrogate_or_strict")
         else:
             try:
                 with open(repo, encoding="utf-8") as file:
                     repofile_text = file.read()
             except OSError:
-                module.fail_json(msg="Error opening .repo file from provided path")
+                if state == "absent":
+                    module.warn(f"Could not open .repo file at '{repo}'; will try to identify repository by alias")
+                    alias = alias or repo.rsplit("/", 1)[-1][:-5]
+                    repodata["alias"] = alias
+                else:
+                    module.fail_json(msg="Error opening .repo file from provided path")
 
-        repofile = configparser.ConfigParser()
-        try:
-            repofile.read_file(StringIO(repofile_text))
-        except configparser.Error:
-            module.fail_json(msg="Invalid format, .repo file could not be parsed")
+        if repofile_text is not None:
+            repofile = configparser.ConfigParser()
+            try:
+                repofile.read_file(StringIO(repofile_text))
+            except configparser.Error:
+                module.fail_json(msg="Invalid format, .repo file could not be parsed")
 
-        # No support for .repo file with zero or more than one repository
-        if len(repofile.sections()) != 1:
-            err = f"Invalid format, .repo file contains {len(repofile.sections())} repositories, expected 1"
-            module.fail_json(msg=err)
+            # No support for .repo file with zero or more than one repository
+            if len(repofile.sections()) != 1:
+                err = f"Invalid format, .repo file contains {len(repofile.sections())} repositories, expected 1"
+                module.fail_json(msg=err)
 
-        section = repofile.sections()[0]
-        repofile_items = dict(repofile.items(section))
-        # Only proceed if at least baseurl is available
-        if "baseurl" not in repofile_items:
-            module.fail_json(msg="No baseurl found in .repo file")
+            section = repofile.sections()[0]
+            repofile_items = dict(repofile.items(section))
+            # Only proceed if at least baseurl is available
+            if "baseurl" not in repofile_items:
+                module.fail_json(msg="No baseurl found in .repo file")
 
-        # Set alias (name) and url based on values from .repo file
-        alias = section
-        repodata["alias"] = section
-        repodata["url"] = repofile_items["baseurl"]
+            # Set alias (name) and url based on values from .repo file
+            alias = section
+            repodata["alias"] = section
+            repodata["url"] = repofile_items["baseurl"]
 
-        # If gpgkey is part of the .repo file, auto import key
-        if "gpgkey" in repofile_items:
-            auto_import_keys = True
+            # If gpgkey is part of the .repo file, auto import key
+            if "gpgkey" in repofile_items:
+                auto_import_keys = True
 
-        # Map additional values, if available
-        if "name" in repofile_items:
-            repodata["name"] = repofile_items["name"]
-        if "enabled" in repofile_items:
-            repodata["enabled"] = repofile_items["enabled"]
-        if "autorefresh" in repofile_items:
-            repodata["autorefresh"] = repofile_items["autorefresh"]
-        if "gpgcheck" in repofile_items:
-            repodata["gpgcheck"] = repofile_items["gpgcheck"]
+            # Map additional values, if available
+            if "name" in repofile_items:
+                repodata["name"] = repofile_items["name"]
+            if "enabled" in repofile_items:
+                repodata["enabled"] = repofile_items["enabled"]
+            if "autorefresh" in repofile_items:
+                repodata["autorefresh"] = repofile_items["autorefresh"]
+            if "gpgcheck" in repofile_items:
+                repodata["gpgcheck"] = repofile_items["gpgcheck"]
 
     exists, mod, old_repos = repo_exists(module, repodata, overwrite_multiple)