Nigeria’s senior men national team, the Super Eagles have avoided being drawn in the same group with tough African oppositions Egypt, Senegal and Morocco after the Confederation of African Football (CAF) published procedure for Friday’s 2019 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) draws on Thursday.
In a release published on the CAF website on Thursday, Gernot Rohr’s Eagles were placed in Pot A according to their placement on the latest FIFA World ranking alongside hosts Egypt, defending champions Cameroon, Tunisia, Morocco and Senegal.
“The CAF Executive Committee at its meeting on Thursday, 11 April 2019, in Cairo, Egypt approved the draw procedure for the final tournament of the Total Africa Cup of Nations Egypt 2019,” began the CAF statement made available to www.aclsports.com
“The procedure was proposed by the Organising Committee for the Africa Cup of Nations at its meeting 24-hours earlier. The pots and seedings of the 24 qualified teams were decided based on the latest FIFA World rankings (released 4 April 2019), which is globally accepted and portrays a true reflection of the state of the qualified teams,” the statement added.
The twenty-four qualified teams will be drawn in six groups of four teams each as Africa’s showpiece event witnesses an expansion from the 16-team format it had sustained since 1996.
Host nation Egypt will be in Group A when the draws are conducted in Sphnix of Giza on Friday evening.
THE POTS
Pot 1
Egypt
Senegal
Nigeria
Tunisia
Cameroon
Morocco
Pot 2
DR Congo
Ghana
Mali
Coted’voire
Guinea
Algeria
Pot 3
South Africa
Uganda
Benin Republic
Mauritania
Madagascar
Kenya
Pot 4
Zimbabwe
Namibia
Guinea Bissau
Angola
Tanzania
Burundi
