The Confederation of African Football (Caf) has announced that the upcoming Fifa World Cup Qatar 2022 African qualifiers, set to take place in June, have been postponed due to the current challenges caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The federation made the decision at an emergency committee meeting on Wednesday as it looks to tackle the ever-changing landscape caused by the pandemic on the continent.

The June qualifiers are now set to take place in the existing international windows in September, October and November 2021, and March 2022.

Caf announced the decision in a media statement:

‘The CAF Emergency Committee, in consultation with FIFA, decided to postpone the CAF qualifiers for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™️ that were due to be played in June 2021 after taking into consideration the current challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, and the need to ensure the optimal playing conditions for all participating teams.

‘The qualifiers will now take place in the existing windows of September, October and November 2021, and March 2022.

‘CAF is reassessing its protocols and processes to enhance the implementation of COVID-related protocols, including specifically focusing on pre-match testing which had been the source of some challenges in previous windows.

‘Full details on the updated match schedule will be provided in due course.’

World football governing body Fifa also announced the news in a statement on its website:

‘FIFA can confirm that in conjunction with CAF and taking into consideration the current disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and the need to ensure optimal playing conditions for all teams, it has been decided to postpone the African qualifiers for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™️ that were due to be played in June 2021.

‘The qualifiers are now scheduled to take place in the existing windows of September, October and November 2021, and March 2022.’