The Confederation of African Football (Caf) has confirmed a new calender for the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifying matches.
Countries on the continent were initially scheduled to begin playing in June 2021.
However, qualifiers will now begin in September 2021.
CAF cited “current challenges caused by the Covid-19 pandemic” as the reason.
“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,” a statement read.
“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.”