Rio 2016 Kicks Off For African Football

The long journey for the
Rio 2016 Olympic Games is taking off this weekend for the African continent, with the kick-off of the CAF U-23 Championship Senegal 2015 qualifiers.
The second edition of the eight-team qualifying competition to the Summer Olympics men’s football tournament (5-19 December 2015) was to be hosted by the Democratic Republic of Congo, who later withdrew over political reasons and were replaced by Senegal.
The top three finishers will represent Africa in Rio de Janeiro at the 2016 Olympic Games.
The first round of the qualifying campaign will see Botswana and Kenya, Rwanda and Somalia, and Ghana and Liberia battle in a two-legged affair, while Sierra Leone and Mauritania already booked their spot in the next round following the withdrawal of Guinea-Bissau and Libya.
Sixteen nations drew a bye in the first round, with Congo, Cameroon, Mali, Zambia, Uganda, Swaziland, Zimbabwe, Tunisia and Sudan to kick off their campaign in the second round and Nigeria, Algeria, Gabon, Côte d’Ivoire, Egypt, South Africa and Morocco in the third round.
Botswana will host Kenya in Lobatse today, with Rwanda welcoming Somalia in Kigali tomorrow and Liberia travelling to Tamale to face the ‘Black Meteors’ on Sunday. The return legs will take place two weeks later.