2023 AFCON Qualifier: Nigeria Draw Sierra Leone, Guinea-Bissau And Sao Tome

The draw for the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying groups were made in Johannesburg on Tuesday and put Nigeria in the same group with Sierra Leone, Guinea-Bissau, Sao Tome.

The matches are expected to begin in May.

Winners and runners-up in each group except H qualify for the 24-team finals in the Ivory Coast during June and July 2023.

Ivory Coast automatically qualify from Group H as tournament hosts, along with the highest placed of the other three teams

Kenya and Zimbabwe are suspended by FIFA due to government interference in the running of the sport and they will be allowed to compete only if the bans are lifted by mid May.

Meanwhile, Mauritius have protested a 4-3 aggregate loss to Sao Tome e Principe in the preliminary round and the outcome of a disciplinary hearing will decide which nation competes in Group A.

Full outcome of the draw:

Group A: Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Guinea-Bissau, Sao Tome e Principe or Mauritius

Group B: Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Togo, Eswatini

Group C: Cameroon, Kenya, Namibia, Burundi

Group D: Egypt, Guinea, Malawi, Ethiopia

Group E: Ghana, Madagascar, Angola, Central African Republic

Group F: Algeria, Uganda, Niger, Tanzania

Group G: Mali, Congo Brazzaville, Gambia, South Sudan

Group H: Ivory Coast (tournament hosts), Zambia, Comoros, Lesotho

Group I: Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon, Mauritania, Sudan

Group J: Tunisia, Equatorial Guinea, Libya, Botswana

Group K: Morocco, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Liberia

Group L: Senegal (cup holders), Benin, Mozambique, Rwanda

Story by Channels Television  – April 19, 2022