Burundi, Tanzania to renew rivalry in preliminary 2020 World Cup qualifier

Burundi and Tanzania will renew their East Africa rivalry when they square it out in the preliminary round of Africa’s qualifying campaign for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, after a draw held in Egypt Monday afternoon.

Other regional derbies will witness Botswana tackle Malawi, Mauritius against Mozambique and the all-West African affair between neighbours Liberia and Sierra Leone.

The continent’s 28 lowest ranked sides, according to this month’s Fifa rankings, were involved in today’s draw at the Confederation of African Football offices in Cairo.

The 14 preliminary round winners, over two legs to be played, 2-10 September   and the 26 countries who received byes will be split into 10 groups of four after a fresh draw with the first matches next March.

Group winners then proceed into five two-leg playoffs with the winners qualifying for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

Kenya will know her group opponents after winners of the two- leg play –off are determined.

Ethiopia v Lesotho

Somalia v Zimbabwe

Eritrea v Namibia

Burundi v Tanzania

Djibouti v Eswatini

Botswana v Malawi

The Gambia v Angola

Liberia v Sierra Leone

Mauritius v Mozambique

Sao Tome e Principe v Guinea-Bissau

South Sudan v Equatorial Guinea

Comoros v Togo

Chad v Sudan

Seychelles v Rwanda