Rwanda Under-20 women football team have been drawn to take part in the 2018 FIFA Women’s U-20 World Cup qualifiers.

The Confederation of African Football (CAF) released the fixtures for the preliminary round on Thursday and Rwanda are among the 19 teams that will battle for the two slots to represent Africa at the finals tournament in France.

The qualification process begins with a preliminary round scheduled for the weekend of July 21-23.

Rwanda have been given a bye into the first round and will face the winners between Burundi and Djibouti, who will meet in the preliminary round.

The preliminary round, which will be staged in July and August this year, will also see Libya and Sierra Leone battle it out for a place in the first round as will Botswana and Kenya.

First round

In the first round scheduled to be played in September and October, Rwanda will take on the winners between Burundi and Djibouti. The first leg will be played on the weekend of September 15-17 before the return leg in Kigali on the weekend of September 29 and October 1.

The first-round winners will qualify for the second round due in November where the winners between Rwanda and Burundi/Djibouti will take on the winners between South Africa and Namibia.

Second round

The second-round winners will progress to the third round where only two eventual winners will represent Africa at the 2018 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup.

editorial@newtimes.co.rw