By Harry Awurumibe, Editor, Abuja Bureau
Apparently listening to the voice of reason, the Confederation of Africa Football (CAF) has shifted backwards the first and second legs of the 2022 African Women’s Cup of Nations (AWCON) qualifier matches between Nigeria’s Super Falcons and Black Queens of Ghana.
The African football governing body had a week ago conducted Draws in Cairo, Egypt which saw Nigeria facing bitter rival, Ghana in the preliminary round of next year’s AWCON final billed for Morocco. It also fixed the first leg in Nigeria for June 7-15 and return leg in Ghana for October 18 – 29, October, 2021.
The bizarre match up got most women’s football followers talking with many criticising CAF for not Seeding top African football playing nations like Nigeria, Cameroon, Ghana and South Africa.
Others wondered why CAF did not adopt the former format which ensured that big teams avoided each other in the preliminary round of both AWCON and FIFA Women’s World Cup qualifiers respectively.
However, CAF Organizing Committee of Women’s Football in a letter sent to the General Secretaries of Member Associations to notify them of the postponement of the first and second legs of the AWCON qualifiers in line with the postponement of the male FIFA World Cup qualifiers.
According to CAF the reasons for the postponement include the actual conditions of stadiums in Africa and restrictions related to Covid-19.
CAF said the new date for the first round of matches will be during the FIFA Window of 18 to 26, October, 2021 while the second round will be on FIFA Window of 14 to 23 , February 2022.
Meanwhile, the biggest beneficiary of the postponement of Nigeria and Ghana tie will be Super Falcons who will play series of International friendly matches in June including the 4-Nation Grade A Tournament in Texas, USA.
