Holders Ghana to face Gambia in new-format Wafu Cup

The draw for the 2019 Wafu Cup of Nations, Wednesday, pitted defending champions Ghana against The Gambia as organizers rolled out an entirely new format for the sub-regional competition set to be hosted by Senegal from September 28 to October 13.

According to organizers, there will be no groups in this year’s Wafu event and instead, it will be separated into a Cup and Plate competition, with each team playing a minimum of two matches. There will be two games each day before a rest day on 2 October and then the Cup final on 13 October.

The draw on Wednesday decided the first eight fixtures for the first phase of knockout matches with the winners of those matches progressing into the Cup phase of the competition while the losers will go into the Plate phase.

– The first match of the 2019 Wafu Cup of Nations will take place on 28 September and will see the host nation in Senegal taking on Guinea Bissau.

– This will be followed by Ghana’s Black Stars ‘B’ taking on The Gambia on the same day.

– 29 September will see the Super Eagles of Nigeria facing off with Togo, followed by Morocco against Liberia.

– 30 September will see Mali take on Niger while the Elephants of Cote d’Ivoire will face the minnows of Cape Verde.

– 1 October will see the final first round knockout matches taking place with Burkina Faso going up against Mauritania while Guinea will take on Benin.

– The quarter-finals of the Cup and Plate competition will then take place from 3-6 October with the semi-finals happening from 8-9 October. The final of the plate competition will take place on 12 October with the Cup final concluding the 2019 WAFU Cup of Nations on 13 October.

All matches are scheduled to take place at Stade Lat Dior in the beautiful city of Thies.

Fixtures

28 September:

Senegal v Guinea-Bissau
Ghana v The Gambia

29 September:

Nigeria v Togo
Morocco v Liberia

30 September:

Mali v Niger
Ivory Coast v Cape Verde

1 October:

Burkina Faso v Mauritania
Guinea v Benin