Harambee Starlets draw South Sudan in 2022 Awcon qualifiers

Kenya’s Harambee Starlets will face-off with South Sudan in the first round of the 2022 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (Awcon) qualifiers to be held in Morocco from July 2 to 23.

This is according to the draw conducted Monday at Confederation of African Football (Caf) headquarters in Cairo, Egypt.

Forty-four countries will be fighting for the 11 slots for the continental showpiece.

Morocco have already qualified by virtue of being hosts.

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.

Winners of the first-round matches of 2022 Awcon qualifiers, which will be played in two legs, will advance to the second round of the qualifiers.

Starlets under the tutelage of Charles Okere will host South Sudan in Nairobi for the first leg, before travelling to Juba for the return match.

Okere has said his team will not start as favourites against South Sudan in the first round qualifier to take place between June 7 and 15.

“On paper it can be seen as an easy fixture (against South Sudan) but we respect our opponents. We will know how well we are prepared for them when we meet in the field,” said Okere.

The winner of the clash will face-off with the winner between Ethiopia and Uganda.

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.

Football Kenya Federation (FKF) president Nick Mwendwa has repeatedly said that their goal is to see Starlets feature in the 2023 Women’s World Cup, following Fifa's decision to increase the slots reserved for Africa for the global event from three to six.

But Starlets faces an uphill task in realising this dream, since they are not in good shape, having not played a competitive match since their return from Turkey in March 2020 where they participated in the Turkish Women’s Cup.

Due to the government ban on sporting activities in the country due to Covid-19 pandemic, the team has never convened for training since then.

In April, Starlets suffered a blow after their planned friendly match with Copper Queens of Zambia was cancelled since government failed to approve their trip to the Southern Africa nation.

It's still not clear if FKF will on Wednesday resume their leagues and national teams preparations for the key assignments, since the Ministries of Sports and Health have not rolled out protocols to guide the resumption of sporting activities in the country as directed by President Uhuru Kenyatta.

Nigeria’s Super Falcons are the Awcon giants, with nine titles in 11 editions, the last one being the 2018 event held in Ghana. South Africa’s Banyana Banyana won silver while Cameroon’s Indomitable Lioness bagged bronze.