Super Falcons through to Olympics, as Mali pulls out

Mali’s Female Eagles have pulled out of a first round qualifying fixture for the Women’s Football Tournament of the 2016 Olympics against Nigeria.
A letter from world football-governing body, FIFA, informed the Nigeria Football Federation of the development on Thursday evening.
“We would like to urgently share with you that the Mali Football Federation has just formally notified FIFA of the withdrawal of its women’s national team from the Olympic qualifiers. By way of consequence, both leg matches of the 2nd round are cancelled and your women’s national team is automatically qualified for the 3rd round matches. Further details regarding the 3rd round will follow in due course,” wrote Gordon Savic, Head of FIFA World Cup and Olympics Qualifiers.
Savic also wrote to NFF’s Deputy Director (Competitions), Bola Oyeyode: “We thank you very much for your acknowledgement of our notification and we commend you for your excellent support in spite of the sudden new circumstances.”
Officials for the match, namely Delly Mankou Elise from Congo-Brazzaville (Match Commissioner), Maniyela Edu Okomo (Referee), Margarita Engono Abang (1st Assistant Referee), Juliana Onva Okomo (2nd Assistant Referee) all from Equatorial Guinea, and Reserve Referee Fatou Seye Ndeye from Senegal had all arrived in Nigeria on Thursday and were well-received by the Nigeria Football Federation.
The development means the Super Falcons have now qualified for the third round of the qualifiers, with the first leg coming up mid-July, ahead of a final round of qualifiers scheduled for October 2015.