The sport governing body in Africa, CAF, announce a postponement of the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifiers for June till the international windows of September and November 2021. A statement signed by CAF Communications says that this decision was taken at a CAF Emergency Committee meeting “in consultation with FIFA” because of the “current challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and the need to ensure optimal playing conditions for all the participating teams”.
The statement goes on to say that the body is reassessing its COVID-19 protocols with specific focus on “pre-match testing which had been the source of some challenges in previous windows”.
There is still an outstanding AFCON2021 qualifier between Benin Rep and Sierra Leone as a result of disagreements on the pre-match testing. In both national and club games throughout the continent this has been a huge source of rancour, accusations and counter-accusations.
It is a good sign that CAF are willing to tackle what was becoming a very big issue for many of the clubs and national teams.
