CAF Postpones 2022 Qatar FIFA World Cup Qualifiers

The Africa Zone FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 group stage qualifiers have been postponed yet again.

CAF confirmed in a statement on May 6 that match-day-one and match-day-two group stage qualifiers that were due to be played between the dates on May 31-june 15 have been rescheduled due to health reasons.

It is the second time CAF has postponed the qualifiers after they were rescheduled from September 2020 shortly after Covid-19 was declared a pandemic in March last year.

“The CAF Emergency Committee, in consultation with FIFA, decided to postpone the CAF qualifiers for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 that were due to be played in June 2021 after taking into consideration the current challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, and the need to ensure the optimal playing conditions for all participating teams,” CAF stated.

“The qualifiers will now take place in the existing windows of September, October and November 2021, and March 2022.

“CAF is reassessing its protocols and processes to enhance the implementation of COVID-related protocols, including specifically focusing on pre-match testing which had been the source of some challenges in previous windows.

“Full details on the updated match schedule will be provided in due course.”

Chipolopolo are in Group B of the qualifiers with Tunisia, Equatorial Guinea and Mauritania.

Zambia was schedule to visit Mauritania during the weekend of June 5 before hosting Tunisia five days later in Lusaka.