AFCON Qualifiers: Super Eagles To Face Sierra Leone In Nov

Okechukwu Gabriel of Nigeria celebrates goal with teammates during the 2018 CHAN semifinals football game between Sudan and Nigeria at the Grand stade Marrakech in Marrakech, Morocco on 31 January 2017 ©Samuel Shivambu/BackpagePix

The Confederation of African Football (CAF) says the Super Eagles would face Sierra Leone in the African Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifying double- header in November.

CAF, in a statement on Wednesday, announced that the AFCON qualifiers will resume in November after they were postponed due to coronavirus pandemic.

The confederation added that the fixture will be completed with Lesotho home match and a trip to Benin Republic in the final phase of the qualifying series between March 22 and 30 next year.

“The CAF Emergency Committee has approved the resumption date for qualifiers of the Total Africa Cup of Nations Cameroon 2021 and the group stage of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022,” CAF said in the statement.

“A busy schedule awaits the participating teams with double-headers from November 2020 through to November 2021 in the battle for spots to the final tournament of the two competitions.

“The schedules for the two competitions have had to be revised in light of the COVID-19 outbreak which halted many sporting activities across the continent and beyond for some time.

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

The final tournament slated for January 2022 will take place in Cameroon.

Nigeria’s first FIFA World Cup qualification game for Qatar 2022 in Group C against Lone Star of Liberia will be coming up in May 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 & 2 matches,” the statement added.

“From 30 August till 7 September, the Day 3 & 4 matches are expected to take place with Day 5 & 6 matches fixed for 4-12 October 2021.

“The Playoff matches have been scheduled for 8-16 November 2021.”

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