The next 2024 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers looks set to be postponed as the Confederation of African Football (CAF) are aiming to help their representatives for the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
Last week CAF President Patrice Motsepe confirmed they were considering helping Morocco, Ghana, Tunisia, Senegal and Cameroon by alleviating their fixture congestion heading towards the global showpiece which will take place in November and December.
With Qatar 2022 moving towards their winter period instead of the traditional June-July timeframe for the World Cup, the international calendar has become quite congested and it’s been reported that the September AFCON qualifiers have now been moved to March.
This has been made possible with Ivory Coast 2023 also being moved back from July to January 2024 due to the adverse weather conditions in the country making it near impossible to stage the event successfully next year.
Get unlimited, fast 5G home wifi. Delivered to you fast from rain.co.za
“The postponement of the Cup of Nations offered an opportunity to reschedule the remaining qualifying matches,” a document from CAF, as per AFP read. “It also makes it possible to open the dates in September to international friendly matches for preparation for the World Cup.”
Bafana Bafana was supposed to play Liberia in a double-header in September but those games were not pushed to 2023.
After two rounds of AFCON qualifiers played, round three and four is now scheduled for March 2024 while match day five and six is set for June and September respectively.
