Ghana to learn of new dates for 2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers today
Black Stars players will discover the new dates for their 2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers when the Executive Committee of CAF meets later today.
The Black Stars’ hopes of resuming their remaining matches in the coming weeks were dashed last week following the decision of FIFA to cancel international matches scheduled for September.
CAF’s executive committee will meet in an online conference today to decide what to do with Africa’s flagship football competition which is the Africa Cup of Nations.
The Black Stars were hoping they would resume their matches in Group C of the qualifiers by July to seal an early qualification for the tournament to be held in Cameroon.
But the two back-to-back qualifiers against Sudan were postponed in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic that ravaged the world and affected sports competitions worldwide.
The pandemic hit all football competitions in the world and led to postponements in all international competitions but with the easing of restrictions and the resumption of competitions, hopes were raised for the Black Stars that the matches could be played in the coming weeks.
However, FIFA took a decision last week to cancel September’s window for national team matches in all regions, except Europe and South America.
This means qualifying for the AFCON is still far from complete and national team football on the continent is not due to resume before October in the wake of the novel coronavirus outbreak.
The decision has left CAF with fewer dates to try and complete the competition’s qualifying campaign and the finalize the field for the 24-team flagship football tournament in Africa.
There are still four rounds of qualifiers to play and although they could yet be scheduled for October and November.
The CAF meeting today will put finality on the matter and possibly set the dates for the Black Stars to play their remaining four matches in the qualifiers.
The West Africans have been in fantastic form in the qualifiers defeating South Africa and Sao Tome and Principe in their opening two matches in the tricky group.
Wins against Sudan in two back-to-back qualifiers originally scheduled for March could have sealed early qualification for the Black Stars to play in Africa’s flagship football competition.