The Confederation of African Football
(CAF) has announced the draw for the 2021 African cup of nations which is set to be held in Cameroon.
Cameroon who was in charge of organizing the 2019 AFCON was stripped the hosting rights months prior to competition due to poor infrastructure development.
Following the increase on the number of participating teams to 24 nations starting from the 32nd edition of AFCON the draw for the 2021 AFCON was held for 48 teams dividing them into 12 groups of four teams each. with the top two teams in each group earning a spot in the 33rd edition of AFCON.
The hosts Cameroon with automatic qualification as hosts in hand were drawn in Group F with Cape Verde, Mozambique, and Rwanda.
Meanwhile, Ethiopia previously on seed 4 is set to play with the 2 times African champions Ivory Coast, the surprise package of the 2019 AFCON Madagascar and Niger in group “K”.
The Elephants (Ivory Coast) currently ranked 62nd in the latest FIFA ranking are the in pole position to win the group with the rest teams expected to battle it out for a second-place finish to ensure qualification.
The preliminary encounters will be played in October meanwhile the group stage will be kicking off in November.
Groups in Full:
Group A: Mali, Guinea, Namibia, Liberia/Chad
Group B: Burkina Faso, Uganda, Malawi, South Sudan/Seychelles
Group C: Ghana, South Africa, Sudan, Mauritius/Sao
Tome
Group D: Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon, Angola, Djibouti/Gambia
Group E: Morocco, Mauritania, Central African Republic, Burundi
Group F: Cameroon, Cape Verde, Mozambique, Rwanda
Group G: Egypt, Kenya, Togo, Comoros
Group H: Algeria, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana
Group I: Senegal, Congo Brazzaville, Guinea-Bissau, Eswatini
Group J: Tunisia, Libya, Tanzania, Equatorial Guinea
Group K: Ivory Coast, Niger, Madagascar, Ethiopia
Group L: Nigeria, Benin, Sierra Leone, Lesotho
