GhanaFA

CAN qualifying date extended

16 years ago
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The qualifying campaign for the 2008 CAF Africa Cup of Nations finals will now finish a month later than scheduled after rescheduling of matches in Group 2.

The postponement of Egypt's match against Burundi at the weekend has seen the Confederation of African Football (CAF) stretch the qualifiers through until mid-October.

They were scheduled to end in early September.

Burundi will host Egypt on 9 September after last Sunday's game was called off.

Burundi were to play Egypt in Kigali in neighbouring Rwanda because their own ground in Bujumbura was undergoing renovation but CAF postponed the match after Egypt said they were unable to secure proper accommodation for their delegation.

CAF have also put back the final round of Group Two matches to the weekend of 12-14 October. Egypt will play Botswana while Mauritania are to meet Burundi.

The group winner will qualify for the finals in Ghana in January and the draw for the finals will be hosted in Accra, the Ghanaian capital, on 20 October, CAF has confirmed.

Only five countries, including the hosts, have so far qualified for the 16-team tournament from 20 January to 10 February next year.

Angola, Cameroon, Morocco and Tunisia were all confirmed for the finals after the weekend's penultimate round of qualifiers.

The 16 teams will be drawn into four groups of four for the first round of the finals.

The groups will be seeded but this will only be finalised after the completion of the qualifiers, officials said.