Nigeria’s opponents emerge today as CAF holds qualifying draws in Cairo

Nigeria’S opponents in the FIFA U-17 and U-20 Women World Cup qualifying series will be known today when Africa’s football ruling body, CAF, holds the draws in Cairo, Egypt.

The draws for the two competitions will officially kick off the road to the two 2024 women’s football global events. For the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup, a total of 25 nations will be involved in the drawing of lots, while 35 have been confirmed for the U-20 edition.

According to CAF, the qualifiers for both competitions will be contested on a home and away basis with the U-17 first round comprising two teams to be determined according to their participation in the last editions.

CAF said the second round would comprise qualified teams from the first round in addition to the 23 exempted teams. The second round would produce 12 teams for the third round, while the 12 qualified teams in the third round would produce six teams for the fourth and last qualifying round.

Three teams will qualify for the World Cup from the fourth qualifying round, it said. The 25 countries in the pot for the U-17 draw are Nigeria, Algeria, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroun, Central Africa, DR Congo, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Guinea, Kenya and Liberia.

Also in the pot are Libya, Mali, Morocco, Mauritius, Niger, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia. The first round of the U-20 qualifying competition will feature six teams determined according to their participation in the last U-20 Women’s World Cup editions. It will produce three teams that will join 29 exempted teams in the second round, which will produce 16 teams for the third round.

The third round will produce eight teams for the fourth round, which in turn will throw up the four teams to move to the fifth round. Four teams will emerge from the fifth round to a play-off that would produce Africa’s two representatives at the U-20 Women World Cup.

The 35 teams in the draw are Nigeria, Algeria, Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroun, Chad, Congo, DR Congo, Djibouti, Egypt, Eq. Guinea, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Kenya, Libya, Mali and Morocco. Others are Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Sao Tome, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda and Zambia.