Flamingoes Get first round bye in FIFA Under-17 World Cup Qualifiers

Nigeria’s Flamingoes will be up against winners of the DR Congo versus Rwanda tie in the second round of the 2022 FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup qualifying competition.

The draw for the qualifiers was conducted on Monday in Cairo by Khaled Nassar, the Director of Competitions at the Confederation of African Football (CAF), assisted by Egyptian footballer Nadine Ghazy.

A total of 29 teams will take part in the qualifiers which will go over four rounds and determine CAF’s three places at the global women’s event scheduled for India.

The first round includes the 10 less-ranked teams while the remaining 19 will be exempted.

The 10 teams will play in the first round on home and away basis, with five of them qualifying for the second round where they will join the remaining 19 teams.

The first leg matches in this first round will hold between Jan. 13 and Jan. 15, while the second leg matches will hold between Jan. 27 and Jan. 29.

The Flamingoes who missed out in the previous edition of the world competition in Uruguay will begin their campaign in the second round.

They will take on the winners of the first round fixture between DR Congo and Rwanda, with their opponents hosting the first leg between March 3 and March 5.

The Nigerian side will host the second leg between March 17 and March 19.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the competition in India is the tournament’s seventh edition.

It was earlier scheduled for 2020 but moved to 2022 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

THE FIXTURES

First Round

M1 – Eritrea vs South Sudan

M2 – Equatorial Guinea vs Kenya

M3 – DR Congo vs Rwanda

M4 – Senegal vs Sierra Leone

M5 – Benin vs Mauritania

Second Round

S1 – Winners M1 vs Cameroon

S2 – Zambia vs Namibia

S3 – Djibouti vs Burundi

S4 – Tanzania vs Botswana

S5 – Winners M2 vs South Africa

S6 – Uganda vs Ethiopia

S7 – Egypt vs Guinea Bissau

S8 – Winners M3 vs Nigeria

S9 – Liberia vs Guinea

S10 – Winners M4 vs Ghana

S11 – Niger vs Sao Tome

S12 – Winners M5 vs Morocco

Third Round

T1 – Winners S1 vs Winners S2

T2 – Winners S3 vs Winners S4

T3 – Winners S5 vs Winners S6

T4 – Winners S7 vs Winners S8

T5 – Winners S9 vs Winners S10

T6 – Winners S11 vs Winners S12

Fourth Round

Winners T1 vs Winners T2

Winners T3 vs Winners T4

Winners T5 vs Winners T6

The aggregate winners will qualify to represent Africa in the FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup tagged “India 2022”.