2021 AFCON Qualifiers updates

The 2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualification matches to decide the participating teams of the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations, the 33rd edition of the international men’s football championship of Africa.

Qualifying fixtures are scheduled to be played from October 2019 through to November 2020.

The group stage of the qualifiers follows after a preliminary round. There are six match days scheduled for the group stage of the qualifiers.

Nigeria and Senegal claimed big wins in Southern Africa on Sunday, while Cameroon claimed their first win in Kigali.

A 4-1 win for Senegal away to Eswatini in Group I was the match of day – with a hat-trick from Famara Diedhiou – while South Africa are up and running in Group C following a 1-0 home win over Sudan.

South Sudan went down 1-2 at home to Burkina Faso, Benin edged Sierra Leone 1-0, Mali triumphed 2-0 in Chad thanks to goals from Moussa Djenepo and Mohamed Camara and Uganda got the better of Malawi (2-0) in Kira with strikes from Emmanuel Okwi and Fahad Bayo.

Nigeria recovered from an early goal conceded to Lesotho’s Nkoto Masoabi to win 4-2 in Maseru and take an iron grip on top spot in Group L.

Alex Iwobi, Samuel Chukwueze and Victor Osimhen (two) netted the goals for the Super Eagles. Cameroon claimed their first win in Group F, as they triumphed 1-0 in Kigali over Rwanda, while Guinea and Congo claimed solid home wins over Namibia (2-0 in Group A) and Guinea-Bissau (3-0 in Group I) respectively.

Gabon went to the top of Group D with a 2-1 home win over Angola.

2021 AFCON QUALIFIERS RESULTS, 17 NOVEMBER
Benin 1-0 Sierra Leone – Group L
Chad 0-2 Mali – Group A
Eswatini 1-4 Senegal – Group I
South Africa 1-0 Sudan – Group C
South Sudan 1-2 Burkina Faso – Group B
Uganda 2-0 Malawi – Group B
Congo 3-0 Guinea-Bissau – Group I
Guinea 2-0 Namibia – Group A
Lesotho 2-4 Nigeria – Group L
Rwanda 0-1 Cameroon – Group F
Gabon 2-1 Angola – Group D

There are 13 more qualifiers on Monday and Tuesday, before the competition takes a nine-month break until August 2020.