Nigeria, Equatorial Guinea, Cameroon and South Africa have all received byes in the first round of qualifiers for the 2018 Africa Women’s Championship to be held in Ghana next year. This comes after the Confederation of African Football (CAF) released the fixtures for the tournament which will be held in November next year.
The four countries to have been given the byes will be joined in the second and final of the qualifiers by 10 teams. The 10 teams would have emerged victorious in the first round to be eligible to meet the top four ranked sides in Africa.
The first round of qualifying matches will be played on the 26th February 2018 and 6th March 2018 for the first and second legs respectively. A total of twenty teams will play in the first round.
Ghana who got the final nod to host the tournament from CAF at a meeting held in Accra, Ghana on the 23rd of September 2018 will qualify automatically as hosts to be joined by 7 others from the second of matches to complete the lineup.
The tournament will also determine who will represent Africa at Women’s World Cup tournament to be hosted by France in 2019.
Ghana’s experience of successfully hosting previous CAF tournaments in recent times (the 2009 African Youth Championship and the 2000 and 2008 Africa Cup of Nations) was important in being awarded the hosting rights.
