The Nigerian Super Eagles’ 2023 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying matches against Guinea-Bissau have been moved up to the following year.
In a statement issued on Sunday, the Confederation of Africa Football (CAF) Executive Committee reaffirmed this.
The doubleheader between the Eagles and Guinea-Bissau, along with more AFCON 2023 qualifiers featuring other nations, was scheduled for September of this year.
The back-to-back games will now take place in March 2023.
The Executive Committee claims that the postponement was made in order to give the five African nations, who will represent the continent at the World Cup in Qatar time to properly prepare.
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The statement read:”The Confederation of African Football (“CAF”)_ Executive Committee has approved a revised TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations Cote d’Ivoire 2023 revised qualification calendar.
“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.”
After winning both of their games in Group A of the AFCON qualifiers, the Eagles are in first place.
