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The Super Eagles of Nigeria will know their AFCON qualifier opponents today, as draws holds in South Africa.
Cote d’ Ivoire will be hosting the tournament in June 2023.
The matches for the AFCON qualifying process will begin in June 2022 as African countries slug it out in which 24 teams will eventually emerge for the main competition.
The teams scheduled to participate in the draw, according to the Confederation of African Football (CAF) will discover their paths for possible qualification for the competition when the draw is held in Johannesburg, South Africa at 5:30pm Nigeria time.
48 African countries billed to participate in the qualifying series have been ceded into 4 pots based on the latest FIFA rankings.
The teams will then be drawn into 12 groups of four teams (Group A to L) with the top two teams from each group qualifying for the tournament to be played in the West African country.
The new format will see host Cote d’Ivoire participate in the qualifying series even though their results don’t matter. Only one team will make it out of their group to the competition.
CAF has assured that Kenya and Zimbabwe, who have been suspended by FIFA from all football activities globally, will also be included in the draw despite their temporary bans by FIFA.
Meanwhile, if the suspension is not lifted two weeks before their first matchday of the qualifiers, both associations will be eliminated from the competition and just one will emerge from their groups, instead of the group winners and runner ups.