The start of the qualifiers for the 2022 CAF Women’s Africa Cup of Nations that were due to take place early next month have been postponed to October.

The Confederation of African Football (CAF) took the decision to ensure the integrity of the competition and mirrors the decision to postpone the start of the men’s qualifiers for the 2022 FIFA World Cup to September.

“CAF’s Organising Committee of Women Football decided to postpone the qualifiers of the women Africa Cup of Nations, Morocco 2022 In line with the postponement of the Men World Cup Qualifiers,” CAF said in a letter to member associations this week.

“The reasons of the postponements were based on the actual conditions of certain stadiums in Africa and the restrictions related to COVID19.

“The 1st round will now take place in the FIFA window of 18 to 26 October, 2021 and the second round will take place in the FIFA window of 14 to 23 February, 2022.”

The first round fixtures include a tasty meeting between Malawi and Zambia that has the potential to be a thrilling tie, while 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup participants South Africa will take on Mozambique.

Other matches will see Namibia take on Tanzania and Zimbabwe meet Eswatini. The winners of the two-legged ties will advance to a final round of qualifying.

The finals tournament in Morocco also doubles as the African qualifiers for the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup. The top four teams will qualify for the global showpiece in Australia and New Zealand, and two more teams will advance to the inter-confederation play-offs.