Caf postpones African Women’s Under-17 World Cup qualifiers

The Confederation of African Football (Caf) has postponed the African Women’s Under-17 World Cup qualifiers in May.

The qualifiers were postponed due to the spread of the novel coronavirus.

South Africa were due to face Morocco in a two-legged qualifier over two weeks in May.

Morocco automatically made it through to the final phase after Botswana decided not to travel to North Africa for the second leg due to COVID-19 concerns. Morocco had won 1-0 in Botswana on February 28.

In the other clashes, Uganda is due to face Cameroon while Nigeria will take on Ghana – the overall winners will represent the African continent at the Under-17 Women’s World Cup scheduled to take place in India from November 2 to 21.

Also called off are the Caf Champions League and Caf Confederation Cup semi-final matches – both legs were scheduled to also take place during May.

There are no South African teams left in the two competitions.

Other major sporting events either cancelled or postponed in Africa include the World Under-20 Athletics Championships in Nairobi. The event was due to be held from July 7 to 12. That announcement followed the postponement of the Tokyo Olympics which were also scheduled to be held in July.

World Athletics said in a statement: “The current global situation would have seriously compromised the event at this time as many countries are restricting international travel, invoking necessary quarantines and advising citizens and event organisers to avoid mass gatherings.

“We had to consider the health and well-being of athletes, officials and spectators in making this call. We recognise the immense preparations that have gone into the event and wanted to give certainty to the athletes as early as possible as we collectively come to terms with the global impact and threats associated with COVID-19.”

In partnership with ANA and Sports Leo