Tanzania makes it to second round of 2024 Paris Olympics qualifiers  

06Jul 2023
Nassir Nchimbi
DAR ES SALAAM
Sport
The Guardian
Tanzania makes it to second round of 2024 Paris Olympics qualifiers  

TANZANIA’s senior national women’s football team, Twiga Stars, will face Botswana in the second round of the 2024 Paris Olympics qualifiers following the Republic of the Congo's decision to pull out of the first round.

Senior national women's soccer team's footballers participate in training at Tanzania Football Federation (TFF)'s Technical Center at Kigamboni, Dar es Salaam recently shaping up for the African Women's Olympic Qualifying tournament. PHOTO: COURTESY OF TANZANIA FOOTBALL FEDERATION

Twiga Stars were set to begin their campaign in the first round of the 2024 CAF Women's Olympic qualifying tournament and were scheduled to meet the Republic of the Congo on July 10 away before hosting the latter in Dar es Salaam on July 18.

 

Like many other African countries, 25 out of 58 registered for the showdown and now remain 24 after the Republic of the Congo decided not to compete due to unavoidable reasons.

 

Tanzania Football Federation (TFF) Information Officer Clifford Ndimbo said Twiga Stars will now face Botswana in the second round of the competition scheduled to take place in October.

 

Ndimbo explained that Botswana was one of the top seven teams which honoured the last edition of the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations which took place in Morocco.

 

Others are the showdown's winners South Africa, runners-up Morocco, third-place finishers Zambia, Nigeria who ended fourth, Cameroon, and Tunisia.

 

He said Twiga Stars players, who are in camp, were ready for the encounter and will not dissolve the camp as they still face another task in the CECAFA tournament.

 

He said Twiga Stars have the best players with what it takes to make the country fly high and sail through to Paris Olympic Games.

 

He said Twiga Stars' players know how important the game is and that they are ready for the challenge.

 

Twiga Stars head coach Bakari Shime had earlier said: “From the beginning, I have aimed to guide my team to the 2024 Olympics.”

 

According to the fixture, Guinea will clash with Ghana while Uganda will take on Rwanda in the East African encounter. Burkina Faso will face Mali in another entertaining fixture in the first round.

 

The qualifier will have four rounds, with the seven best-ranked teams from the last Women's Africa Cup of Nations being exempted from the first round.

 

They include the defending champions South Africa, Morocco, Zambia, Nigeria, Cameroon, Tunisia, and Botswana.

 

The full list of countries registered for the tournament has Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea, and Guinea Bissau.

 

Mali, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Tanzania, Tunisia, Uganda, and Zambia are the other competitors.

 

 

 

 

 

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