African WC qualifying groups postponed

ZURICH, May 6: African qualifying groups for next year’s World Cup have been postponed and will start in September instead of June, FIFA said Thursday. FIFA cited “current disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic” for the decision. Ten groups of four teams each were scheduled to play two rounds of games from June 5-14, and two more in each of September and October. The groups will now run through November. The 10 group winners will advance to a playoff round, postponed from November to March. The five winners of two-leg playoffs will represent Africa at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. The qualifying matches in June were already due to be disrupted by a CAF decision that suspended many stadiums from staging national team games. (AP)