LAGOS – The African qualifying series for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar kicked off on Monday with the first round preliminary draws that held on Monday in Cairo, Egypt.
The first round draw which will produce 14 winners featured the 28 lowest-ranked countries in the continent.
The ties will be played over two legs in September, and then the 14 winners will join the continent’s top-ranked 26 sides, who have been exempted from the initial round of qualifiers. The draw for the next stage will be on a date still to be decided.
The 40 teams will then be split into 10 groups of four for the second qualifying round.
The 10 winners of those groups will then be drawn against each other in home-and-away fixtures, with the five winners qualifying for the World Cup.
In the preliminary stage, Ethiopia will play Lesotho, while Somalia has Zimbabwe to contend with a spot in the second round draw. While Eritrea tackles Namibia, Burundi will take on Tanzania. Djibouti and Eswatini will fight for a slot in the second round draw, even as Botswana will play Malawi.
Gambia and Angola will play for a slot, while two West African teams, Liberia will have Sierra Leone hurdle to contend with. Mauritius and Mozambique will play for a slot with Sao Tome & Principe taking on Guinea Bissau in the preliminary round. South Sudan has E’Guinea to play while Comoros Islands will play 2006 world Cup surprise qualifiers, Togo. Chad and Sudan will battle for a slot with Seychelles having Rwanda as the hurdle to cross.
The post 2022 W’Cup African Qualifiers To Kick Off In September appeared first on Independent Newspapers Nigeria.
Source: Independent
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