The participating countries for next year’s Africa Cup of Nations 2023 AFCON in Cote D’Ivoire have been confirmed, www.aclsports.com reports.
The final round of qualifiers saw the 48 remaining teams divided into 12 groups of four teams, with the top two nations qualifying for the 2023 AFCON after a home and away round-robin format.
Nigeria and 22 other countries, apart from the hosts, have emerged from the qualifying series that came to an end on Tuesday.
Cameroon and Namibia were the last set of countries to book their place at the 2023 AFCON on Tuesday night. Inspired by a solid goalkeeping performance from Andre Onana, the 2021 AFCON hosts, beat Burundi 2-0, while Namibia got the group’s other ticket by virtue of that result.
According to the roll call of participating countries for the continental showpiece already ratified by the Confederation of African Football (CAF), there will be ten (10) West African countries at the tournament including host nation Cote d’Ivoire and three-time champions Nigeria.
The opening match of the 34th edition of the tournament has been scheduled to take place on Saturday, 13 January 2024 at the Alassane Ouattara Stadium in Ebimpe, Abidjan. The four-week 2023 AFCON which pits Africa’s best 24 nations will officially conclude on 11 February 2024.
2023 AFCON qualified teams:
Nigeria
Guinea-Bissau
Burkina Faso
Cape Verde
Cameroon
Namibia
Egypt
Guinea
Ghana
Angola
Algeria
Tanzania
Mali
Gambia
Zambia
Ivory Coast
DR Congo
Mauritania
Tunisia
Equatorial Guinea
South Africa
Morocco
Senegal
Mozambique
