CAF announces new dates for AFCON 2021 and 2022 World Cup qualifiers

 

The qualifiers for the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations are set to resume in November while those of the next stage for the 2022 World Cup will begin in May 2021, the Confederation of African Football (CAF) announced on Wednesday.

In March, CAF postponed upcoming AFCON qualifying matches due to the coronavirus after the World Health Organisation declared it a pandemic. The qualifiers were scheduled to kick off from March 25-31.

A statement from CAF said the 2021 AFCON qualifiers will be held between November 2020 and March 2021.

“For Cameroon 2021, the qualifiers resume on 9-17 November 2020 with the Day 3 and 4 matches whilst the penultimate and ultimate matches take place on 22-30 March 2021.”

Meanwhile, the African qualifiers for the 2022 World Cup, which are in the second round, will happen between May 2021 and November 2021.

“The 40 teams in contention for the five slots for Qatar 2022 will commence the journey between 31 May and 15 June 2021 with the Day 1 and 2 matches. From 30 August till 7 September, the Day 3 and 4 matches are expected to take place with Day 5 and 6 matches fixed for 4-12 October 2021.”

The playoff matches, in which the 10 group winners will then be drawn to play against each other in a two-legged tie, have been scheduled for November 8-16 2021. The five winners will advance to represent Africa at the World Cup.

The second round of qualifying for the 2022 World Cup in Africa had been scheduled to begin in March and run through to October next year.