Ghana’s female U-20 Women soccer team, the Black Princesses will face the winner of the first-round qualifying match between Mauritania and Tunisia in the African qualifiers for the FIFA U-20 Women World Cup, Costa Rica 2022.
The Confederation of African Football (CAF) held the draw for the World Cup qualifiers on Monday, May 10, 2021, in Cairo, Egypt. Egyptian footballer Nadine Ghazy assisted CAF Head of Competitions Khaled Nassar to conducted the draw.
After the first round of matches, the winners will join the seeded teams for the second round. According to CAF, a total of 40 teams decided to take part in the playoffs, the first time in the history of the completion. Meanwhile, CAF stated that the qualifying phase will take place in five (5) rounds organized in home and away matches.
This means that the Black princesses will have to go through 4 rounds before they can book a ticket to Costa Rica next year. Interestingly, the Black Princesses have made five successive FIFA World Cup appearances. However, they have failed to get past the group stages in all of them. Ghana has qualified for 5 out of the 9 previous editions of the competition when the team made its first appearance in 2010.
As such, the stage is now set for the Princesses to qualify for the sixth consecutive time in a row. However, the team’s record on the World stage is nothing to write home about. This means the team must work harder to prove its critics wrong.
Most successful African Team
Conversely, Africa’s powerhouses in the U-20 Women division, Nigeria, will face the winner of the match between Equatorial Guinea and the Central African Republic. Nigeria is the most successful team in the U-20 Women division. They have qualified for all the previous 9 editions of the tournament. They were runners-up in 2010 and 2014. However, Nigeria suffered its worst defeat in 2016 when it suffered a 6-0 defeat in the hands of Japan.
On the other hand, Cameroon will face either DR Congo or Sao Tome. In the interim, South Africa will either lock horns with Eswatini or Mozambique in an all-Southern African encounter.
Meanwhile, CAF will have two representatives for the final tournament of the FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup Costa Rica 2022.
Already qualified teams
Overall, 16 teams will have to qualify for the final tournament including host, Costa Rica. This means 15 teams would have to qualify from six continental competitions.
Meanwhile, three teams from Asia have already booked their place. This includes North Korea, South Korea, and Japan. Among the qualified teams from Asia, North Korea is the most successful having won two titles in 2006 and 2016. Japan, however, won the title in 2018.
Also, three teams have already qualified from the CONCACAF region. This comprises Costa Rica, the United States, and Mexico. Furthermore, Europe will present the highest number of teams. This includes Germany, France, Spain, and the Netherlands.
The most successful teams in the U-20 Women division are the United of America and Germany with three titles apiece. Meanwhile, both teams have already booked their tickets for next year’s tournament.
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