The Confederation of Africa Football (CAF) Emergency Committee, in consultation with the Federation of International Football Association (FIFA), has postponed the qualifiers for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022.

The qualifiers were due to be played in June 2021 but after taking into consideration the current challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, and the need to ensure the optimal playing conditions for all participating teams, CAF has postponed the draw.

According to CAF, the qualifiers would now take place in the existing windows of September, October, and November 2021, and March 2022.

CAF is reassessing its protocols and processes to enhance the implementation of COVID-related protocols, including specifically focusing on pre-match testing which had been the source of some challenges in previous windows.

Full details on the updated match schedule will be provided in due course.