The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has announced that the preliminary draw for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in Morocco, will take place on Tuesday, 20 February 2024, in Cairo, Egypt.
The draw is scheduled to take place at 1 p.m. Nigeria time.
Following the conclusion of the 34th AFCON in Cote d’Ivoire, all eyes are now on the upcoming tournament, which will take place in Morocco.
According to CAF, the preliminary round will feature the eight lowest-ranked teams in the FIFA rankings, namely Somalia, Djibouti, Sao Tome, Chad, Mauritius, South Sudan, Liberia, and Eswatini.
These teams will play in the preliminary round, while the rest of the teams that are exempted will play directly in the group stage.
The matches will be played on a two-legged basis during the FIFA window from March 18 to 26, emphasized CAF, noting that the four winners of the preliminary round will join the remaining 44 teams.
These teams will battle it out on a home-and-away basis within the FIFA international window of 18-26 March 2024.
“Following the conclusion of the 34th edition of the AFCON, the focus has shifted to the next edition, with the preliminary draw of TotalEnergies CAF Africa Cup of Nations Morocco 2025 scheduled for Tuesday, 20 February 2024 in Cairo, Egypt, ” CAF said in a statement on Monday.
“The draw will be conducted at 14h00 local time (12h00 GMT).
“The preliminary round of the TotalEnergies CAF Africa Cup of Nations Morocco 2025 will include the eight (8) lowest-ranked teams according to the FIFA ranking: Somalia, Djibouti, Sao Tome, Chad, Mauritius, South Sudan, Liberia and Eswatini.
“The matches will be played on home and away basis during the FIFA Window of 18-26 March 2024. The four (4) preliminary round winners will join the 44 exempted teams for the group stage.”
