African qualifiers for 2014 World Cup kick off

Lagos, Nigeria (PANA) - The group stage of the African qualifying series for the 2014 FIFA World Cup, to be hosted by Brazil, kicks off across the continent Friday with 20 matches slated to be played in the 10 groups.

Some 40 African teams have been divided into 10 groups of four teams each for the qualifiers, which will run for the next 15 months.

Each of the matches is important, as teams seek to grab every point at stake early on.

Notably, Africa's big teams, including Cameroon, Egypt, Ghana, Nigeria and South Africa, are all playing at home, and will all be seeking to make the best of that advantage over the next three days (1-3 June) that the qualifiers will be played.

Of all African teams, Cameroon is the most successful in African qualifying, having reached the finals of the four-yearly FIFA World Cup six times in the last 30 years.

With a grouping that includes Togo, Libya and DR Congo, the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon are expected to reach another finals in 2014.

By 19 Nov. 2013, when the qualifiers are slated to end, five African teams will pick the tickets to the finals.

Here are the full fixtures:

Friday, 1 June:
Ghana - Lesotho
Egypt - Mozambique

Saturday, 2 June
Central African Republic - Botswana  
Cameroon - DR Congo            
Kenya - Malawi          
Sierra Leone - Cape Verde Islands      
Gambia - Morocco      
Côte d'Ivoire - Tanzania          
Tunisia - Equatorial Guinea      
Burkina Faso - Congo
Senegal - Liberia        
Sudan - Zambia          
Algeria - Rwanda

Sunday, 3 June:
South Africa - Ethiopia
Zimbabwe - Guinea    
Togo - Libya  
Niger - Gabon
Nigeria - Namibia        
Benin - Mali    
Angola - Uganda
-0- PANA SEG 1June2012