By Valentine Amanze, Online Editor
The world football ruling organization, FIFA, has postponed the 2022 World Cup qualifiers scheduled for Africa during June to September due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) and stadia not meeting internatonal standards.
While disclosing this on Thursday, FIFA also disclosed that there would now be double matchdays in September, October and November with the 10 group winners advancing to the final round next March.
Africa has been allocated five places at the 32-nation tournament in Qatar, which has been moved from its traditional mid-year setting to November and December because of extreme summer heat, according to AFP report.
Had two matchdays been staged in June, Burkina Faso, the Central African Republic, Liberia, Malawi, Mali, Namibia, Niger, Senegal and Sierra Leone would not have been able to stage qualifiers.
The main stadia in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Libya and Uganda were also ruled out, but they had alternate venues capable of hosting internationals. Besides, the recently elected Confederation of African Football (CAF) president, Patrice Motsepe, from South Africa, had prioritised improving poor facilities and pitches at many national stadia.