http://www.cafonline.com/football/news/11538-caf-executive-committee-decisions.html CAF has mentioned that the 2014 finals will be held in Namibia, but in the list of decisions made by their Executive Committee, I don't see anything about the 2012 hosts. The qualifiers are set to start later this year, and no news anywhere. Uganda are set to compete in the qualifiers, and I've seen news that São Tomé & Príncipe plan to take part too.
Draw for preliminary round (mid January 2012 and late January 2012): Egypt v Ethiopia Namibia v Tanzania Mali v Ghana Uganda v DR Congo Senegal v Burundi Zimbabwe v Botswana Côte d'Ivoire v Guinea Kenya v Mozambique Zambia v Malawi Morocco v Tunisia BYES: Nigeria, South Africa, Equatorial Guinea, Cameroon Qualifying round (May/June 2012): There will be 7 matches, the 7 winners qualifying for the final tournament as well as the hosts. Known match: Zimbabwe/Botswana v Nigeria Zimbabwe apparently being given a chance to host the event, if they can provide certain assurances. In that case, they would be exempt form qualifying and Botswana would play Nigeria in the next round. Disappointing turnout of only 24 teams, but a possible début for Burundi.
it'll be interesting if Zimbabwe pulls out of hosting duties. I would guess that either Nigeria or South Africa have been notified as back-ups. Only 2 FIFA Ranked teams not participating - Algeria(78) & Angola(107). Other teams under a FIFA provisional ranking not participating are: Congo, Benin, Burkino Faso, Guinea-Bissau, Swaziland, Comoros, Sierra Leone, Eritrea, Gabon, Liberia, Lesotho.
Match-ups based on rankings. It's interesting that Ghana is in the preliminary round despite the second highest ranked CAF team, yet South Africa gets a bye as the fifth ranked team. Egypt(84) v Ethiopia(105) Namibia(117) v Tanzania(126) Mali(93) v Ghana(51) Uganda(NR) v DR Congo(109) Senegal(85) v Burundi(NR) Zimbabwe(101) v Botswana(132) Côte d'Ivoire(75) v Guinea(115) Kenya(133) v Mozambique(128) Zambia(122) v Malawi(129) Morocco(71) v Tunisia(74) BYES: Nigeria(27), South Africa(67), Equatorial Guinea(55), Cameroon(66)
The second round match-ups will be: 1. Ethiopia/Egypt winner vs. Namibia/Tanzania winner 2. Ivory Coast/Guinea winner vs. Kenya/Mozambique winner 3. Zambia/Malawi winner vs. South Africa 4. Morocco/Tunisia winner vs. Senegal/Burundi winner 5. Botswana/Zimbabwe winner vs. Nigeria 6. Uganda/Congo DR winner vs. Equatorial Guinea 7. Mali/Ghana winner vs. Cameroon held 26/05/2012 & 16/06/2012
It must be that the byes have been decided by the recent 2010 African Championship - the 4 byes are the 4 semi-finalists from the last edition, as Ghana failed to make the semis last time. The way the draw has worked out, it's a great chance for Senegal and Côte d'Ivoire to qualify for their first finals tournament. On current form, the 8 teams in the finals (if Zimbabwe host) should be: Nigeria Cameroon Equatorial Guinea South Africa Zimbabwe Côte d'Ivoire Tunisia Ethiopia
Zimbabwe to host 2012 African Women's Championship http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/15513584.stm
Zimbabwe are playing South Africa on 22nd December as a build-up to their match against Botswana. So, it seems strange that they would still be playing Botswana in qualifying if they had been given hosting rights. But according to CAF, they WILL host the finals. Strange... Botswana should be given a bye to play Nigeria. Burundi has withdrawn (so no first match for them), Senegal advance to 2nd Round to play Morocco or Tunisia.
Then what about Nigeria? They are scheduled to play the Zimbabwe v Botswana winner. If Zimbabwe advance to the finals, and Botswana play Senegal, Nigeria would then qualify for the finals without playing.
http://www.herald.co.zw/index.php?o...-afcon-to-eq-guinea&catid=50:sport&Itemid=142 According to this link (from 7th December), Zimbabwe will NOT host the tournament. Equatorial Guinea will host it. As Equatorial Guinea were scheduled to play Uganda/DR Congo - I wonder if the winner of this match will now advance to the finals? This article also mentions that Zimbabwe will play Malawi in a buildup match in early January.
well, if that's the case, then they should grant Ghana a bye to the next round to avoid a weak team like Uganda or DR Congo from advancing: 1. Ethiopia/Egypt winner vs. Namibia/Tanzania winner 2. Ivory Coast/Guinea winner vs. Kenya/Mozambique winner 3. Zambia/Malawi winner vs. South Africa 4. Morocco/Tunisia winner vs. Senegal 5. Botswana/Zimbabwe winner vs. Nigeria 6. Uganda/Congo DR winner vs. Ghana 7. Mali vs. Cameroon
http://www.irisfootball.com/index.p...-a-convoque-a-33-joueuses&catid=1:latest-news According to this, the winner of Uganda v DR Congo will still play Equatorial Guinea in the final qualifying round, but it could just be the case that they haven't heard the news yet. In any case, DR Congo is not so weak. They played in the 1998 and 2006 finals tournaments. Uganda played in the 2000 finals tournament. I think it's a good chance for one of these teams.
According to the Mozambique FA, Kenya have withdrawn. Very good chance now for Côte d'Ivoire to make the finals for the first time. So, the 2nd Round lineup now looks like this: 1. Ethiopia/Egypt winner vs. Namibia/Tanzania winner 2. Côte d'Ivoire/Guinea winner vs. Mozambique 3. Zambia/Malawi winner vs. South Africa 4. Morocco/Tunisia winner vs. Senegal 5. Botswana/Zimbabwe winner vs. Nigeria 6. Uganda/DR Congo winner vs. ? (Uganda v DR Congo winner possibly qualifies for finals) 7. Mali/Ghana winner vs. Cameroon
1st Round, 1st Leg results today: Egypt 4-2 Ethiopia Morocco 2-0 Tunisia Uganda 1-1 DR Congo Zambia 7-0 Malawi Namibia 0-2 Tanzania Botswana 0-1 Zimbabwe Côte d'Ivoire 5-1 Guinea Tomorrow: Mali v Ghana
would be very suprised to see Uganda advance considering their lack of experience. if they beat DR Congo in the return leg they would (likely) qualify for the finals. also surprised at Egypt beating Ethiopia. my guess is that the best runner-up in the next round will advance to the finals(likely the Ghana-Cameroon loser).
Today: Mali 0-3 Ghana http://www.ghanafa.org/blackqueens/201201/6441.php "Ghana are aiming to reach the finals of the Championship to be staged in Equatorial Guinea in November."
Why would the best runner-up qualify? There are 7 matches in the 2nd round and Equatorial Guinea would qualify as hosts - making 8 teams. If Equatorial Guinea are hosts, then they will not play in qualifying and their opponents would likely receive a bye (Uganda/DR Congo winner). If another country is named as hosts, then the team they are supposed to play would qualify automatically. For example, if Ghana is named as hosts, then Cameroon would qualify automatically. If Zimbabwe is named as hosts, then Nigeria would qualify automatically.
Tunisia 2-0 Morocco - Morocco won 5-3 on penalties after a 2-2 aggregate score and will play Senegal in May/June for a place in the finals.
Zimbabwe 2-1 Botswana (HT 0-1) - Zimbabwe won 3-1 on aggregate Ethiopia 4-0 Egypt (HT 1-0) - Ethiopia won 4-2 on aggregate Tanzania 5-2 Namibia (HT 1-1) - Tanzania won 7-2 on aggregate Malawi 4-2 Zambia - Zambia won 9-4 on aggregate Ghana 5-0 Mali (HT 2-0) - Ghana won 8-0 on aggregate Final qualifying round: Ethiopia v Tanzania Morocco v Senegal Zimbabwe v Nigeria Zambia v South Africa Ghana v Cameroon Côte Ivoire/Guinea v Mozambique DR Congo v (Equatorial Guinea ?)
Guinea 0-5 Côte d'Ivoire (Côte d'Ivoire won 10-1 on aggregate) Final qualifying round looks like this: Ethiopia v Tanzania Morocco v Senegal Zimbabwe v Nigeria Zambia v South Africa Ghana v Cameroon Côte Ivoire v Mozambique DR Congo v ? Ethiopia & Tanzania are quite even, so this should be a good match. The same can be said for Morocco v Senegal, and Ghana v Cameroon. South Africa and Nigeria should have no difficulties, while Côte d'Ivoire are overwhelming favourites to qualify for their first ever finals tournament.
Respectfully, neither 1998 nor 2006 give DR Congo much to shout about. In 2006, they finished last in their group with a single point. And 1998 was, well, 14 years ago. They are below the level of Mali (who had qualified for the previous three championships), let alone Cameroon or Ghana. It is all fine to say that it is nice for a change in the sides that qualify for the final tournament, but if that qualification is simply the result of stronger sides being stacked on the other side of the draw, then it is not worth the dilution of quality.