CAF postpones Qatar 2022 World Cup qualifiers over Covid-19 challenges

THE Confederation of African Football has shifted the continent’s first batch of Qatar 2022 World Cup qualifiers, citing concerns about the Covid-19 pandemic.

The qualifiers were initially billed to open in June with a double-header but have now been moved to September.

“The CAF Emergency Committee, in consultation with FIFA, decided to postpone the CAF qualifiers for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™️ that were due to be played in June 2021 after taking into consideration the current challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, and the need to ensure the optimal playing conditions for all participating teams,” the continental governing body said in an official statement on Thursday.

“The qualifiers will now take place in the existing windows of September, October and November 2021, and March 2022.”

CAF added that it is undertaking a review of its guidelines in relation to Covid-19.

“CAF is reassessing its protocols and processes to enhance the implementation of COVID-related protocols, including specifically focusing on pre-match testing which had been the source of some challenges in previous windows,” the statement added.

“Full details on the updated match schedule will be provided in due course.”

Covid-19 testing led to serious controversy in March during the final round of the Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers.

The most notable incident was the cancellation of the fixture between Sierra Leone and Benin Republic after the visiting Beninnoise rejected the results of their tests in Freetown which claimed several of their players were positive.

Benin Republic insisted that the same players tested negative just 24 hours before they left for Freetown and refused to play the match, which had to be rescheduled for September.

Forty African countries are participating in the group phase of the World Cup qualifiers, with four teams each in 10 groups.

The 10 group winners will advance to the play-offs where five of them will qualify for the World Cup after knockout ties.

The Super Eagles of Nigeria are in Group C with Cape Verde, Liberia and the Central African Republic.