Senegal asks for postponement of qualifiers of 2023 African Cup of Nations

Senegal’s coach Aliou Cissé is calling for a postponement of the AfCON-2023 qualifying matches scheduled for September to allow African teams to better prepare for the World Cup in Qatar, from November 21 to December 18.

“The best thing (to) help the five (African) selections that have qualified for the World Cup is to stop the qualifiers in September and give the countries the opportunity to make their preparation,” said Cisse in a statement to the press.

Cissé advocates, instead of the AfCON qualifiers, to organize friendly matches for the qualified teams.

“Otherwise we will not prepare as it should. It is up to CAF (Confederation of African Football) (to act). I think we can find a solution to postpone the qualifiers scheduled in September,” he added.

Two days of qualification for the Africa Cup of Nations of June 2023 in Côte d’Ivoire are scheduled in September and the last two days in March 2023, according to the CAF calendar.

Senegal, winner of its first AfCON in February, is qualified for the World Cup along with Cameroon, Ghana, Morocco and Tunisia.