CAF takes a decision on Super Eagles AFCON qualifiers against Guinea-Bissau

Super Eagles AFCON 2023 Qualifiers against Guinea-Bissau will not go ahead as planned after CAF decided to postpone the September round of matches to next year.

Nigeria's Super Eagles were scheduled to face Guinea-Bissau in a double-header in September, but they will now take on the Djurtus in March 2023. 

In a statement released by CAF, the African football governing body revealed they took the decision to allow countries that qualified for the Qatar 2022 World Cup to use the September window to play international friendlies. 

This decision comes after CAF also announced that AFCON 2023, which Ivory Coast will host, has been postponed to January 2024. 

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CAF's statement read: This was necessitated by the Executive Committee's commitment to make room for the African nations that have qualified for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 in November/ December 2022 to prepare adequately.

Consequently, the September 2022 TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations Cote d'Ivoire match day three and match day four qualifiers have been moved to 20-28 March 2023. 

Match day five will now be on 12-20 June 2023 while match day six will be played on 4-12 September 2023. 

Nigeria currently lead their group with two wins from two, beating Sierra Leone in their opening game before recording a historic 10-0 victory over Sao Tome and Principe. 

However, it remains to be seen if the three-time African champions will play international friendlies in September.

A source from the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) already confirmed to Pulse Sports that the Federation is working on securing friendly games for the team in September. 

Nigeria failed to qualify for the 2022 World Cup after losing to Ghana via the away goals rule. The Super Eagles played out a goalless draw against the Black Stars at the Baba Yara Stadium in Kumasi. However, they played a 1-1 draw in the return leg at the Moshood Abiola Stadium in Abuja.