Official: African World Cup qualifiers postponed till September
FIFA confirmed the postponement of African World Cup qualifiers due to covid-19 pandemic and the need to provide optimum playing conditions for competitors.
FIFA announced on its official website that after consultation with the Confederation of African Football (CAF) it has been decided the African 2022 World Cup qualifiers will be postponed once again to be held between next September and March of 2022 due to the difficulties caused by the Covid-19 pandemic in addition to CAF's desire to provide the best playing conditions for participating teams.
"FIFA can confirm that in conjunction with CAF and taking into consideration the current disruption caused by the covid-19 pandemic and the need to ensure optimal playing conditions for all teams, it has been decided to postpone the African qualifiers for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™️ that were due to be played in June 2021" a statement on FIFA's website read.
Qualifiers are now scheduled between September 2021 and March 2022:
Sources inside CAF had earlier confirmed that another postponement was very likely to happen especially after the African governing body released a list of the approved stadiums to host the first two rounds of the African qualifiers leaving 10 teams without venues to host their fixtures.
The qualifiers are now scheduled to take place in the upcoming international windows of September, October and November 2021, and March 2022.
The decision of postponement has been made and announced sooner than expected as it was foreseen to be taken during CAF executive committee meeting in Kigali this month.