Group L of the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualification tournament was one of the twelve groups that decided the teams which qualified for the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations finals tournament. The group consisted of four teams: Nigeria, Benin, Sierra Leone, and Lesotho.[1]

The teams played against each other in home-and-away round-robin format, originally scheduled between November 2019 and September 2020.[2][3]

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, all matches of matchdays 3 and 4 scheduled for March 2020 were postponed until further notice.[4] FIFA recommended that all June 2020 international matches (matchday 5) be postponed,[5] and also postponed the September 2020 window (matchday 6) for CAF.[6]

On 30 June 2020, the CAF announced the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations final tournament had been postponed from January 2021 to January 2022, without announcing the new dates of the remaining qualifiers.[7] On 19 August 2020, the CAF announced the new dates of the remaining qualifiers, with matchdays 3 and 4 rescheduled to be played between 9–17 November 2020, and matchdays 5 and 6 rescheduled to be played between 22 and 30 March 2021.[8]

Nigeria and Sierra Leone, the group winners and runners-up respectively, qualified for the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations.

Standings

Pos Team
 Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Nigeria 6 4 2 0 14 7 +7 14 Final tournament — 4–4 2–1 3–0
2  Sierra Leone 6 1 4 1 6 6 0 7 0–0 — 1–0 1–1
3  Benin 6 2 1 3 3 4 −1 7 0–1 1–0 — 1–0
4  Lesotho 6 0 3 3 3 9 −6 3 2–4 0–0 0–0 —
Source: CAF
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers

Matches

Sierra Leone 1–1 Lesotho
  • Quee 72'
 Report
National Stadium, Freetown
Attendance: 0[note 1]
Referee: Jean Ouattara (Burkina Faso)
Nigeria 2–1 Benin
 Report
Godswill Akpabio International Stadium, Uyo
Referee: Issa Sy (Senegal)
Benin 1–0 Sierra Leone
 Report
Stade Charles de Gaulle, Porto-Novo
Referee: Jean-Marc Ganamandji (Central African Republic)
Lesotho 2–4 Nigeria
 Report
Setsoto Stadium, Maseru
Referee: Joshua Bondo (Botswana)
Nigeria 4–4 Sierra Leone
 Report
Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium, Benin City
Referee: Gilbert Cheruiyot (Kenya)
Benin 1–0 Lesotho
 Report
Stade Charles de Gaulle, Porto-Novo
Referee: Janny Sikazwe (Zambia)
Sierra Leone 0–0 Nigeria
Report
National Stadium, Freetown
Referee: Mehdi Abid Charef (Algeria)
Lesotho 0–0 Benin
Report
Setsoto Stadium, Maseru
Referee: Chelangat Ali Sabilla (Uganda)
Lesotho 0–0 Sierra Leone
Report
Setsoto Stadium, Maseru
Referee: Andofetra Rakotojaona (Madagascar)
Benin 0–1 Nigeria
Report
Stade Charles de Gaulle, Porto-Novo
Referee: Redouane Jiyed (Morocco)
Nigeria 3–0 Lesotho
 Report
Teslim Balogun Stadium, Lagos
Referee: Fabricio Duarte (Cape Verde)
Sierra Leone 1–0 Benin
 Report
Stade du 28 Septembre, Conakry (Guinea)[14]
Referee: Haythem Guirat (Tunisia)

Goalscorers

There were 26 goals scored in 12 matches, for an average of 2.17 goals per match.

5 goals

3 goals

2 goals

1 goal

1 own goal

Notes

  1. ^ Sierra Leone played their home match against Lesotho without spectators because of an incident from the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification encounter between Sierra Leone and Liberia.[9][10]
  2. ^ The Sierra Leone vs Benin match was originally scheduled for 30 March 2021, but was called off after Benin refused to play in protest of several of their players allegedly returning positive COVID-19 tests shortly before kickoff.[11] The following day, the CAF Organising Committee for the Africa Cup of Nations decided to postpone the match to the next FIFA international window in June.[12] The match was then scheduled for 14 June and finally rescheduled again for 15 June.[13]

References

  1. ^ "Draw for 2021 Africa Cup of Nations released". CAF. 18 July 2019. Retrieved 23 July 2019.
  2. ^ "TOTAL Africa Cup of Nations Qualifiers 2021 Fixture" (PDF). CAF.
  3. ^ "TOTAL Africa Cup of Nations Qualifiers 2021 Fixture (March 2020)" (PDF). CAF.
  4. ^ "Total AFCON 2021 qualifiers postponed". CAF. 13 March 2020.
  5. ^ "Dedicated COVID-19 working group proposes recommendations after first meeting". FIFA.com. 3 April 2020.
  6. ^ "FIFA Council unanimously approves COVID-19 Relief Plan". FIFA.com. 25 June 2020.
  7. ^ "Decisions of CAF Executive Meeting – 30 June 2020". CAF. 30 June 2020.
  8. ^ "Cameroon 2021 qualifiers resume November, Qatar 2022 set for May 2021". CAF. 19 August 2020.
  9. ^ "DISCIPLINARY OVERVIEW – QUALIFIERS FOR THE FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022" (PDF). fifa.com. 8 October 2019.
  10. ^ "Fifa orders Sierra Leone to play Lesotho behind closed doors". bbc.com. 8 October 2019.
  11. ^ "Sierra Leone v Benin cancelled". Supersport. 30 March 2021. Retrieved 30 March 2021.[permanent dead link]
  12. ^ "Statement on the Total Africa Cup of Nations 2021 Qualifiers: Sierra Leone vs Benin". CAF. 31 March 2021. Retrieved 31 March 2021.
  13. ^ "New Date for TotalEnergies AFCON Qualifier fixture: Sierra Leone vs Benin". CAF. 14 June 2021. Retrieved 15 June 2021.
  14. ^ "CAF confirms new date, venue for Sierra Leone vs Benin fixture". CAF. 13 June 2021. Retrieved 13 June 2021.

External links

2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualification
Category