The Council for East and Central Africa Football Associations (Cecafa) has confirmed the U17 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers will be played starting November 22 in Rwanda.
A statement obtained by APA Wednesday in Kigali said that initially, there were doubts about whether the qualifiers would be played owing to the Covid-19 pandemic. However, a recent meeting by member associations unanimously agreed the matches should continue.
“During the Cecafa Executive Committee meeting held in Arusha on Saturday 10th October 2020, the decision to go ahead with the U17 and U20 Afcon Qualifiers was reached,” Cecafa confirmed in a statement.
Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania, Uganda, South Sudan, Sudan, Eritrea, Djibouti, Ethiopia, and Kenya have confirmed they will be part of the qualifiers. The U20 qualifiers will be staged in Tanzania from November 22 – December 6 while the U17 competition will be played from December 13 – December 28 in Rwanda.
“Both these qualifier tournaments will feature 10 teams which will be in two pools. After the pool stages, the top two teams will proceed to the semifinals. The Secretariat will announce the dates for the draw of the tournament which will be done virtually,” the statement added.
“Further note that all participating teams will be responsible for their respective countries’ requirements including Covid–19 testing and other protocols required by their governments prior to departure back to their home countries after the tournament.”
CU/abj/APA