ANDREW EKEJIUBA
The Confederation of African Football (CAF) held a draw on Monday for the qualifiers for the Africa Women’s Cup of Nations (AWCON), which will take place from July 2 to 23, 2022 in Morocco with Nigeria pitched against Ghana in WAFU B Group.
A record number of 44 nations entered the qualifiers to try and win a ticket to this edition, which will take place for the first time with 12 teams compared to 8 previously.
Qualifications will take place by geographical area with some nice posters on the menu such as Nigeria-Ghana, Tunisia-Egypt or Mali-Guinea.
Cameroon on the other hand will have to hold its rank against the Central African Republic, while Algeria will be opposed to Sudan, DR Congo to Equatorial Guinea, Senegal to Liberia and the Ivory Coast to Niger.
The qualifiers will span two rounds with home and away matches starting in the FIFA window from June 7 to 15, 2021. Powerhouse of women’s football, Nigeria have won the last three editions.
The winner between the Falcons and the Black Queens will take on the winner of the Niger/Cote d’Ivoire fixture in the second and final round of qualifying slated for October 2021.
In the draw for the U20 FIFA Women’s World Cup which will be hosted by Costa Rica next year, the Falconets have been drawn bye into round two, where they will play the winner of the fixture between Equatorial Guinea and Central Africa Republic. The second round games will hold 23rd – 25th September and 7th – 9th October, with the third round matches in December this year.
In the draw for the U17 FIFA Women’s World Cup that will be hosted by India, the Flamingos have been drawn to the second round where they await the winner of the first round fixture pitching Democratic Republic of Congo against Rwanda. The second games will take place in March 2022.
FULL FIXTURES
CECAFA: Uganda vs Ethiopia, Kenya vs South Sudan, Eritrea vs Burundi, Djiboutivs Rwanda.
COSAFA: Malawi vs Zambia, Tanzania vs Namibia, Zimbabwe vs Eswatini, Angola vs Botswana, Mozambique vs South Africa.
UNAF: Algeria vs Sudan, Egypt vs Tunisia.
UNIFFAC: Equatorial Guinea vs DR Congo, Sao Tome vs Togo, Congo vs Gabon, Central Africa vs Cameroon.
WAFU A: Sierra Leone vs Gambia, Liberia vs Senegal, Mali vs Guinea, Guinea Bissau vs Mauritania.
WAFU B: Burkina Faso vs Benin, Nigeria vs Ghana, Niger vs Cote d’Ivoire.