The fixtures of both the u20 and u17 African Cup of Nations qualifiers are out.

The fixtures of both the u20 and u17 African Cup of Nations qualifiers are out.

The u20 tournament will take place in Zambia from 26 February – 12 March 2017 while the u17 championships will run from 2 – 16 April 2017 in Madagascar.

The top four finalists from the two tournaments will represent Africa in the FIFA World Cups in 2017 in (South Korea and India) respectively.

Amajita have been exempted from taking part in the preliminary rounds and will take on the winner between Namibia and Swaziland in the first round proper.

The first leg is scheduled for the weekend of 20-22 May 2016, with the second leg to be played on the weekend of 10-12 June.

Amajimbos (u17) meanwhile will play against the winner between Tanzania and Seychelles; with the first leg scheduled for the weekend of 5-7 August while the second leg will be played on the weekend of 19-21 August.

Amajita coach Thabo Senong said he was relishing the prospect of taking his charges in this African safari again.

“We have a great chance of qualifying for the U20 AFCON, but it won’t be an easy task. We will need to prepare ourselves appropriately to ensure that we get positive results from either Namibia or Swaziland in our first match.

We have already scheduled two training camps ahead of our qualifier in May 2016. I am very mindful of the progress of our fellow COSAFA teams hence we need to step up our preparations and not take anything for granted. Our aim is to be among the best on the continent hence we want to give this adventure a big go,” said Senong.

His sentiments were echoed by his u17 counterpart Molefi Ntseki who says he is always excited about taking part in continental competitions.

“We are very eager to play these qualifiers and hopefully do even better than the last time, after coming second in the continental showpiece. Our second round will be very similar to the qualifiers we had in 2014; we played Tanzania and Egypt to qualify for Niger; and this time round we may be in the same situation,” said Molefi Ntseki.