Nine spots up for grabs in the U17 Women’s WC qualifiers

Six countries have already confirmed their qualification into the FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup, joining hosts India for the junior women’s world football showpiece set for 11-30 October 2022.

The Peoples Republic of China and Japan, representing Asia, have booked their tickets alongside South America’s trio of Brazil, Chile and Columbia, while New Zealand will fly the flag of Oceania. The latter did not have to play qualifying rounds after qualification was cancelled due to the Covid 19 pandemic, and they were nominated to go to the World Cup.

Nine spots are up for grabs with CAF (3), UEFA (3) and CONMEBOL (3) still to confirm their participants to make up the 16 that will be at the final tournament in India.

For the African continent, two rounds remain in the qualifiers, with twelve nations still in contention: South Africa vs Ethiopia, Cameroon vs Zambia, Burundi vs Tanzania, Egypt vs Nigeria, Guinea vs Ghana and Niger vs Morocco.

The first legs of the penultimate round will be played on the weekend of 15-17 April, with the reverse fixtures scheduled for the weekend of 29 April – 1 May 2022.

The remaining six countries will then lock horns to decide the three that will represent the continent at the World Cup.

The South African U17 Women’s National Team, under the tutelage of former Banyana Banyana captain, Simphiwe Dludlu, will host Ethiopia on Friday, 15 April at the Wits Stadium in Johannesburg.

The return leg will take place on Sunday, 1 May 2022 at the Abebe Bekila Stadium in the capital Addis Ababa.

Here are the full African 3rd round fixtures:

First Leg

DateTimeMatchVenueCity
15.04.202215h00South Africa – EthiopiaWits StadiumJohannesburg
15.04.202213h00Zambia – CameroonNkoloma StadiumLusaka
16.04.202213h00Burundi – TanzaniaStade UrukundoNgozi
16.04.202215h30Niger – MoroccoStade du Général Senyi KountcheNiamey
16.04.202216h00Guinea – GhanaStade du Général Lansana ConteNongo
17.04.202215h00Nigeria – EgyptMKO Abiola StadiumAbuja

Second Leg

DateTimeMatchVenueCity
29.04.202221h30Morocco – NigerComplexe Sportif Prince Moulay Al HassanRabat
30.04.202214h30Cameroon – ZambiaAhmadou Ahidjo StadiumYaoundé
30.04.202215h00Ghana – GuineaCape Coast Sports StadiumCape Coast
01.05.202213h00Ethiopia – South AfricaAbebe Bekila StadiumAddis Ababa
01.05.202217h30Tanzania – BurundiAmaan StadiumZanzibar City
TBCTBCEgypt – NigeriaTBCTBC

By Matlhomola Morake (additional info from CAFonline.com)