Djibouti pull out of 2004 Nations Cup

Djibouti may not be allowed to try for the World Cup 2006

Djibouti have withdrawn from the 2004 African Nations Cup qualifiers due to financial reasons.

The East African country were scheduled to play against Nigeria, Angola and Malawi in group a of the qualifying rounds.

Djibouti were to play Malawi in their first match on September 6.

The Confederation of African Football based in Cairo will take a decision in September to decide what action to take.

After withdrawing, Djibouti face a fine and a possible ban from the Nations Cup in 2006, which is also the elimination series for the World Cup in Germany.

Djibouti, who have never played in the Nations Cup previously, becomes the first country to pull out of the next tournament.

The withdrawal leaves only three teams in the group and some complications in the fixtures for Caf.

It is now a question for the African football body to decide whether the new qualifying format will be affected.

There were 10 groups of four teams each and the rest have three from which only one team qualifies to the finals in 2004.

In the groups of four, two teams are to go through to Tunisia, but Nigeria, Malawi and Angola have to wait to find out Caf's final decision.