THE Confederation of African Football has explained the draw process for the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations.
The draw will be held in Johannesburg, South Africa on Tuesday from 6.30pm Nigerian time, with the Super Eagles one of the 48 teams to find out their group opponents.
The first part of the draw will see the 48 countries seeded into four pots based on the official FIFA ranking released on 31 March, 2022.
Nigeria will be in the top pot since they are one of Africa’s highest-ranked teams.
The teams will be drawn into 12 groups of four teams each (Group A to Group L) with the top two teams from each group qualifying for the tournament to be played in Cote d’Ivoire next summer.
Hosts Cote d’Ivoire will also be included in the draw although they have already secured their place in the tournament, which means only one other team from their group will qualify for the competition.
CAF also clarified that Kenya and Zimbabwe, who have been suspended by FIFA from all football activities globally, will be included in the draw despite their temporary bans.
However, if the suspension is not lifted two weeks before their first matchday of the qualifiers, both associations will be considered as losers and eliminated from the competition, CAF added.
Their groups will then be composed of three teams, with the winners and runners-up teams of those groups qualifying to the tournament.
CAF explained that Kenya and Zimbabwe cannot be drawn in the same group in order to avoid having one group with only two teams in case the suspension on both associations is not lifted.
In the draw to be conducted by the CAF Director of Competitions Samson Adamu and assisted by African football legends Lucas Radebe of South Africa and Ivorian Solomon Kalou, the first ball will be drawn from Pot 4 and will go to position A4.
The qualifiers will start in June 2022.
