2022 Women’s Afcon: Caf moves Ghana vs Nigeria clash to October

The Confederation of African Football (Caf) has rescheduled the start of the 2022 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) qualifiers to October.

The race to the Morocco Women’s Afcon was due to get underway early next month (June) with the Black Queens of Ghana drawn to first battle West African counterparts and record champions Nigeria.

But Caf, in a move to ensure the integrity of the competition and mirror the decision to postpone the start of the men’s qualifiers for the 2022 Fifa World Cup from June to September, has also changed the schedule for the women’s Afcon.

“Caf’s Organising Committee of Women Football decided to postpone the qualifiers of the women Africa Cup of Nations, Morocco 2022 In line with the postponement of the Men World Cup Qualifiers.

“The reasons for the postponements were based on the actual conditions of certain stadiums in Africa and the restrictions related to COVID19.

“The 1st round will now take place in the FIFA window of 18 to 26 October 2021 and the second round will take place in the FIFA window of 14 to 23 February 2022,” a letter to Member Associations this week read.

New Black Queens schedule

First Round (October 18-26, 2021):

• Nigeria vs Ghana
• Ghana vs Nigeria

Second Round (February 14-23, 2022):

• Ghana/Nigeria vs Niger/Cote d’Ivoire
• Niger/Cote d’Ivoire vs Ghana/Nigeria

The tourney

Eleven aggregate winners qualify to join hosts Morocco in the final tournament which will, for the first time ever, be competed by 12 teams.

The 2022 Women’s Afcon tournament – scheduled for the summer – will double as the African qualifiers to the 2023 Fifa Women’s World Cup which will be co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand.

The four countries that make the semifinals at Morocco 2022 will automatically qualify for the 2023 Fifa Women’s World Cup while two more teams will earn slots to chase World Cup qualification via the inter-confederation play-offs.