CAF moves Afcon qualifiers to give Qatar 2022 teams more time for World Cup preparation

August 1 - The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has agreed to postpone the upcoming qualifying matches for the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations to help African teams prepare for the upcoming World Cup.< /p>

The next round of AFCON qualifiers in September has been pushed back to next March to allow the continent's five teams on their way to the World Cup to prepare for Qatar.

The postponement had been muted for weeks, especially after the date of the next AFCON final in Ivory Coast was pushed back from June next year to January 2024.

Senegalese coach Aliou Cissé was among the fiercest critics of the September fixtures, which meant his country would have had to play two Nations Cup qualifiers, home and away against Mozambique, in the last window of opportunity in September when he preferred to prepare for the World Cup. Cameroon, Ghana, Morocco and Tunisia are the other World Cup nations.

The AFCON qualifiers, which started with two rounds of matches in June, have four more to go.

CAF said Matchday 3 and 4 qualifiers have now been moved to March 20-28 next year, fifth round to June 12-20, 2023, while Matchday 6 will be played in September next year.

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