The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has approved the request by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to shift the timing of the Women’s Olympic qualifying game between the Super Falcons and Bayana Bayana of South Africa.
The NFF had earlier requested a shift in the timing of next month’s Women’s Olympic Football Tournament final qualifying fixture between the two teams due to concerns about the hot climatic conditions in the country at the moment.
While confirming the approval of the shift in timing of the match by CAF in a statement issued on Wednesday, the NFF informed that the first leg encounter between Nigeria’s Super Falcons and South Africa will now kick off one hour later than initially scheduled.
“Concerned by the hot climatic condition in the country at the moment, we wrote to CAF to move the kick-off from 4pm to 5pm, in the interest of the players, and they have acceded to our request for the match to commence at 5pm Nigeria time, at the MKO Abiola National Stadium,” Ruth David, NFF’s Director of Competitions said.
The first leg of the final qualifying match for the 2024 Women’s Olympic Football Tournament will be played on Friday, April 5 at the magnificent MKO Abiola National Stadium in Abuja.
The top-ranked squad in Africa and the defending champions will later trade tackles in the return leg, which is set for Tuesday, April 9 in South Africa, at the Loftus Versfeld Stadium in Pretoria.
The winner of the two-leg match between South Africa and Nigeria will play among 15 other senior women’s teams from across the world in the Women’s Olympic Football Tournament, which gets underway in Paris, France, on July 16.