Nigeria to face Ghana in first round of qualifying series

Super Falcons’ Halimatu Ayinde (left) takes on Ghana’s Elizabeth Addo during the Cameroun 2016 African Women Nations Cup. Nigeria will meet Ghana in the first qualifying round of the Morocco 2022 edition of the competition

Fate yesterday dealt Nigeria and Ghana a bad hand, and now, one of them will not play at the 2022 African Women Cup of Nations billed to hold in Morocco.

Yesterday in Cairo, Egypt, the Super Falcons were drawn to meet Black Stars in the first round of the qualifying series for the Morocco 2022 AWCON. This means that the competition will hold without one of its biggest teams.

Nigeria has won the championship a record 11 times, while Ghana has taken the silver medal three times.

According to the draw ceremony supervised by CAF Senior Manager, Women Football and Futsal, Heba Sarwat, who was assisted by Egyptian footballer, Nadine Ghazy, Nigeria will host the first leg of the qualifier between June 7 and 10, while the decisive leg will hold in Ghana.
The winner of the tie over two legs will meet the victor in the game between Niger and Cote d’Ivoire.

In other first round games, Uganda will meet Ethiopia, Kenya and South Sudan will clash, Eritrea is paired with Burundi, while Djibouti will tango with Rwanda.

Other matches pit Malawi against Zambia, Tanzania versus Namibia, Zimbabwe against Eswatini, Angola will tackle Botswana, just as Mozambique has a date with South Africa.

Algeria is paired with Sudan, Egypt will confront Tunisia, former champion, Equatorial Guinea will meet DR Congo, Sao Tome and Principe is up against Togo, Congo faces Gabon, Central African Republic versus Cameroun, Sierra Leone will battle with Gambia, Liberia has a date with Senegal, while Mali and Guinea will battle for second round ticket.

There is a battle of two teams that have never qualified for the AWCON when Guinea Bissau meets Mauritania over two legs, just as Benin Republic will try to make their first outing at the competition when it meets Burkina Faso.

Cote d’Ivoire, who may meet Nigeria in the second qualifying round if the Super Falcons overcome Black Queens, first has to beat Niger Republic to make that happen.

The Guardian recalls that Cote d’Ivoire eliminated Nigeria from the race to the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.