By Mohamed Jaward Nyallay
The 2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers became the latest casualty to the Coronavirus pandemic after the Confederation of African Football decided to cancel match day 3 and 4 of the qualifiers.
The decision was announced on Friday following weeks of speculations about the possible cancellation. The cancellation means that the double header between Sierra Leone and Nigeria that was scheduled to play at the end of this month has been suspended.
A group of 42 homebased Sierra Leonean players have been training for weeks in preparation for the game. Nigeria announced its full squad to play the game just last week.
Other CAF related competitions were also affected.
In a statement by CAF on Friday, they said:
“Following the growing concerns of the COVID-19 virus and the declaration by the World Health Organization (WHO) describing it as pandemic, CAF has decided to postpone the following competitions until further notice: Total AFCON 2021 Qualifiers: Match Day 3 and 4 of the qualifiers scheduled for 25 - 31 March 2020; FIFA Women's U-20 World Cup Qualifiers: scheduled for 20 - 22 March 2020 and 27- 29 March 2020; Total Women's AFCON 2020 Qualifiers: scheduled for 8-14 April 2020.”
The association said a new schedule would be announced in due time. But with the virus now in more than a dozen countries on the continent, it is not clear when the matches will be rescheduled.
The virus has already disrupted major sporting events around the world, including the English Premier League, where a lot of African players ply their trade.
The suspension of the African qualifiers will only crowd an already tight international football calendar.
CAF had been reluctant to reach this decision. Throughout last week officials had insisted that the qualifiers would go on and they would assess the situation on “case by case bases”.
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