Nigeria’s national under-20 women’s football team, the Falconets has been drawn to face Burundi in the second round of the 2024 FIFA Under-20 Women’s World Cup qualifiers.
The draw was officially conducted by the Confederation of African Football, CAF in Cairo, Egypt.
The draw produced some interesting ties as the pathway to the global showpiece is officially open.
The first six nations with the lowest rankings will take center stage in a round-robin format between September 1 and September 10.
Equatorial Guinea will face Libya, Togo will take on Guinea Bissau, and Mauritius will face off against Chad.
The winners from this round will then move on to the second round of the qualifiers.
In this round, Ethiopia will take on the winners of the Equatorial Guinea and Libya pairing, while Senegal will face off with Mali.
Nigeria’s Super Falcons have lost their opening match at the ongoing 2022 Women’s African Cup of Nations, WAFCON, holding in Morocco.
The Super Falcons fell by 1-2 to perennial rivals South Africa in the Group C match while Burundi were hit 4-2 by Botswana.
Two quick-fire goals from the South Africans through Jermaine Seoposenwe in the 61st minute and Hildah Tholakele Magaia only two minutes proved too much of an hurdle for the Super Falcons to scale.
Rasheedat Ajibade scored deep in stoppage time but it was too little too late.
The win extends South Africa’s dominance over Nigeria in recent years as the Super Falcons had not won or scored against South Africa in the continental showpiece since 2016.
In the other Group C match, Botswana registered the biggest win of the tournament so far when they saw off fellow debutants Burundi 4-2 at the Moulay Hassan Stadium in Rabat.
The Mares opened their scoring through Karabo Dithebe a minute to the halftime mark.
With the lead, Botswana went into the break with their heads held up high while looking to extend their lead.
A minute into the second half, Lesego Radiakanyo did just that as she doubled Botswana’s lead to 2-0.
Sandrine Niyonkuru scored to keep Burundi’s hopes of winning the game alive, but it was Botswana’s Tholakele who scored a quick brace in the 55th and 59th minutes to hand the Mares a 4-1 lead to knock the stuffing out of the Burundians.
The Burundians found the back of the net in the 81st minute with a fine finish to make the score 4-2.
Botswana, who are now Group C table leaders, face Nigeria in their next game on Thursday, July 7 at 2000Hrs GMT while Burundi will be up against South Africa at 1700Hrs GMT.
Burundi’s newly elected president, Evariste Ndayishimiye, has been sworn in two months earlier than planned.
No foreign heads of state were present when he took the oath of office in the administrative capital, Gitega, where he pledged to defend the nation’s interests and unify its citizens.
The fast-tracked ceremony comes after his predecessor Pierre Nkurunziza died suddenly last week.
Mr Ndayishimiye is a former rebel leader, like Mr Nkurunziza.
He was backed by his predecessor and was declared the winner of May’s presidential election, which the opposition said was rigged.
Mr Nkurunziza died aged 55 on 8 June after suffering a cardiac arrest, the government said. There are unconfirmed reports that he was suffering from Covid-19.
After 15 years in power, Mr Nkurunziza was due to step down in August.
According to Burundi’s constitution, if the head of state dies in office then the president of the national assembly, currently Pascal Nyabenda, should succeed him.
But after a ruling by Burundi’s Constitutional Court, Mr Ndayishimiye’s inauguration in Gitega was brought forward.
Burundi’s top court has made a ruling aimed at ending the power vacuum created by the sudden death of President Pierre Nkurunziza on Monday.
The Constitutional Court said President-elect Evariste Ndayishimiye should be sworn in as soon as possible.
Legally, the Speaker of parliament, Pascal Nyabenda, should have become the interim leader.
But the cabinet decided to refer to the court and now Mr Ndayishimiye is due to become president two months early.
He was elected in May to replace President Nkurunziza, who had been in power for 15 years.
Burundi’s top judges said that in the constitution the interim period under the speaker of parliament was designed as a time to hold fresh elections, but the president-elect’s recent victory made this unnecessary.
Mr Nkurunziza had been able to run for a fourth term in last month’s election but decided to retire and was to be known as the “supreme guide to patriotism”.
The government said he died of a cardiac arrest after being taken ill on Saturday evening.
