AFCON 2025: Nigeria, other top teams on standby as preliminary draw holds today

The draw

for the preliminary round of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations to be hosted by Morocco will hold this afternoon in Cairo, Egypt.

Nigeria, Senegal, Morocco, Egypt, South Africa, Ghana and 36 other top rated teams are not part of the preliminary round of the qualifying series.

According to the Confederation of African Football (CAF), the preliminary round of Morocco 2025 will include the eight lowest-ranked teams according to FIFA ranking. They are 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 March 18 to 26, 2024, with the four preliminary round winners joining the 44 exempted teams for the group stage.

According to CAF, the preliminary round would be decided on a knockout basis of home and away matches, with the four winners from the preliminary round joining the 44 exempted teams in the group stage.

It said the eight less ranked teams have been distributed into two pots, according to their ranking, adding: “The four lowest ranked among the eight teams: Somalia, Djibouti, Sao Tome and Chad are in pot 1, while the four highest ranked among the eight teams: Mauritius, South Sudan, Liberia and Eswatini will be in pot 2.”