Ghana has been drawn to face Congo in the first phase of the qualifiers for the FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup in Costa Rica next year. This comes after world football governing body, FIFA released the continental qualifiers for the upcoming tournament to take place from 15 March to 5 April 2014. The African qualifiers for the juniors World Cup will take place in two round robin stages. The first round of the preliminaries will be contested by eight countries. The eight countries that will kick off the first round of qualifiers will see Botswana take on Zambia, while Morocco faces South Sudan in two gruelling rounds. Ghana will take on Congo while Equatorial Guinea face- off against Kenya for a place in the second round. The second round will compromise of six teams – four from countries that will have participated in the first round and will be joined by powerhouses South Africa and Nigeria. Those fixtures will be played in November. The winners will represent the African continent at the Fourth Edition of the FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup in Costa Rica next year. The first round will take place between 21 and 23 June 2013, with two-legged home and away ties being played in each round. The final phase, which will decide Africa’s three representatives at Costa Rica 2014, will be staged between 22 and 24 November.