Ghana's hopes of resuming their remaining matches in the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations in the coming weeks have been dashed following the decision of FIFA cancel international matches scheduled for September.
The Black Stars were hoping they would resume their matches in Group C of the qualifiers by July to seal an early qualification to the tournament to be held in Cameroon.
There are still four rounds of qualifiers to play and although they could yet be scheduled for October and November.
The West Africans have been in fantastic form in the qualifiers defeating South Africa and Sao Tome and Principe in their opening two matches in the tricky group.
Wins against Sudan in two back-to-back qualifiers originally scheduled for March could have sealed early qualification for the Black Stars to play in Africa's flagship football competition.
There are still four rounds of qualifiers to play and although they could yet be scheduled for October and November, that would mean having to postpone the start of the group phase of 2022 World Cup qualifiers.
But the two back-to-back qualifiers against Sudan were postponed in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic that ravaged the world and affected sports competitions worldwide.
The pandemic hit all football competitions in the world and led to postponements in all international competitions but with the easing of restrictions and the resumption of competitions hopes were raised for the Black Stars that the matches could be played in the coming weeks.
However, FIFA took a decision on Thursday to cancel September’s window for national team matches in all regions, except Europe and South America.
This means qualifying for the AFCON is still far from complete and national team football on the continent is not due to resume before October in the wake of the novel coronavirus outbreak.
The decision has left CAF with fewer dates to try and complete the competition’s qualifying campaign and the finalise the field for the 24-team flagship football tournament in Africa.
This means the Black Stars will not play their matches in the qualifiers until October which is the earliest likely date they can be cleared to play their remaining matches in the qualifiers.
CAF’s executive committee will meet in an online conference on Tuesday to decide what to do.