Harambee Starlets to face South Sudan in 2022 AFCON qualifiers

Harambee Starlets players during a recovery training session at Camp Toyoyo stadium, Jericho in Nairobi on February 28, 2020. [Stafford Ondego]

Harambee Starlets have been drawn in Group A of the 2022 Africa Women Cup of Nations qualifiers in the draw hosted by the CAF Headquarters in Cairo, Egypt.

The first round will see Kenya play against South Sudan as Uganda faces off against Ethiopia, Eritrea against Burundi, and Djibouti up against Rwanda.

Should Starlets proceed past South Sudan, they are set to face off against either Uganda or Ethiopia in the second round. The winners on aggregate will qualify to join hosts Morocco in the regional showpiece.

The first and second leg fixtures of the first round will be played between June 7 and June 15th with the second round’s first and second leg fixtures will be held between October 18 and October 29.

The 2022 Awcon will double up as the qualifiers for the 2023 Women’s World Cup that will be hosted jointly by Australia and New Zealand.

The semi-finalists at the prestigious continental showpiece will gain automatic qualification to the Women’s World Cup.

Starlets are seeking to make their second ever appearance in the continental showpiece, after the 2016 event held in Cameroon, where they failed to go past the group stage.

Meanwhile, the Kenya U20 women team has also been pooled in Group A alongside Uganda, Burundi, Malawi, Namibia, Angola, Botswana, and Zambia, in the second round of the 2022 FIFA U20 Women World Cup qualifiers.

Kenya will play against Uganda and before being one of the two African representatives in the 2022 FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup in Costa Rica, they will have to go through three more rounds

The women’s U20 continental showpiece first leg fixtures will take place between January 13, and January 15, 2021, with the second leg fixtures to be held between January 27, and January 29, 2021.