The Local Nations Cup: Ghana to play Niger

Ghana will play Niger at home in the first leg of the preliminary round qualifiers of the new African Nations Championship later this month after updated fixtures were released.

The Black Stars drawn in Zone West B play Niger on March 30 with the return fixture in Niamey in two weeks time.

Ghana and nine other national associations who were left out of the initial draw for the inaugural competition have now been readmitted.

They are Gambia from Zone West A, Togo from Zone West B, Kenya and Eritrea from the Central East Zone, and from the Southern Zone: Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Zambia Chipolopo Boys will face Swaziland away next week in the preliminary round of the CHAN tournament.

Football Association of Zambia general secretary Fidelis Banda confirmed this, saying: “We will play Swaziland away during the weekend of March 28-30. Time is tight and we will put together our best team possible for the game.”

The revised list of fixtures is:

Preliminary round:

Libya v Tunisia

Gambia v Mauritania

Ghana v Niger

Togo v Benin

Central Africa v Gabon

Congo v Chad

Rwanda v Burundi

Kenya v Tanzania

Eritrea v Uganda

Malawi v Mozambique

Swaziland v Zambia

Match dates First round: March :28- 30. Second leg: April 11- 13.

1st round

Algeria v Morocco

Winner Algeria\Tunisia v Egypt

Senegal v Mali

Winner Gambia\Mauritania v Guinea

Nigeria v Burkina Faso

Winner Ghana\Nigeria v winner Togo\Benin

Cameroon v winner Central Africa\Gabon

RD Congo v winner Congo\Chad

Sudan v winner Rwanda\Burundi

Winner Kenya\Tanzania v winner Uganda\Eritrea

Winner Malawi\Mozambique v Angola

Botswana v winner Swaziland\Zambia

Zimbabwe v Namibia

south africa v Mauritious