NAIROBI, Nov. 1 (Xinhua) -- Kenya's Under-23 football team will face Mauritius in their quest to qualify for the Africa Under-23 Cup of Nations tournament, set for next year in Egypt.
Football Kenya Federation (FKF) President Nick Mwendwa confirmed on Thursday that Kenya must navigate the preliminary rounds before heading to Cairo for the tournament proper.
Kenya has named a bloated squad of 57 players to begin training in Nairobi on November 3 before the final 25 are picked for the assignment a week later.
"We have an open camp scheduled for the players. The Under-23 team, also known as the Emerging Stars, will take this tournament seriously, because in addition to qualifying for the Under-23 Africa Nations Cup, it will also act as Africa's 2020 Olympic qualifying tournament," said Mwendwa in Nairobi.
Only Egypt have qualified automatically as hosts. The remaining seven spots will be determined by the qualifying rounds in each region.
Kenya will play Mauritius in the first round on November 16 in Nairobi, with the return leg set to be played three days later. The winner will face either Seychelles or Sudan in the second round in March 2019.
The final tournament, set to be held in Egypt from November 8 to 22 next year, and is limited to players born after January 1997.
The Under-23 Africa Nations Cup was initially scheduled to take place in Zambia, but the southern African country withdrew from hosting in July 2017 before Egypt stepped in to fill the void.
The tournament will determine which three African teams will compete at the 2020 Summer Olympics men's football tournament in Japan. Nigeria are the defending champions.
Kenya Under-23s last played competitively in 2015 where they were knocked out by Botswana by an aggregate score of 4-1.
In the other regional matches, Uganda will play South Sudan, Burundi will take on Tanzania, Ethiopia will face Somalia while Rwanda play DR Congo. Enditem
