2025 AFCON Preliminary Round Draw: Somalia, Eswatini lock horns
Confederation of African Football today confirmed the preliminary round draw for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations to be held in Morocco.
This is coming on the heels of the conclusion of the 2023 AFCON which was won by the hosts, Ivory Coast on February 11 with three time champions Nigeria finishing second. CAF also confirmed that the 2025 edition will take place in July and August as against the usual January/February.
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Before the main qualification round for the competition begins, the preliminary round will take place from 20 to 26 March 2024. The games will be played in a knockout form and a home-and-away format.
Earlier, CAF announced that the bottom eight teams in the most recent FIFA ranking will feature in the preliminary round.
The teams are Chad, Mauritius, Liberia, Eswatini, South Sudan, Djibouti, Sao Tome, and Somalia.
Before the preliminary round draw on Tuesday, which took place at the CAF headquarters in Cairo, Egypt, the football body divided the eight teams into two pots.
Pot 1 featured Somalia, Djibouti, Sao Tome, and Chad, while Pot 2 featured Mauritius, South Sudan, Liberia, and Eswatini. This means that none of the teams in the same pot would play against each other.
At the end of the main draw, Somalia was paired against Eswatini, Sao Tome was paired against South Sudan, Chad was paired against Mauritius, and Djibouti was paired against Liberia.
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None of the countries mentioned above have ever won the AFCON, and only four of them will make it to the 2025 AFCON group stage qualification round. The heavy weight soccer nations will join the campaign after the preliminary stage has been concluded in March.
Below are the 2025 AFCON preliminary qualification round fixtures
Somalia Vs Eswatini
Sao Tome Vs South Sudan
Chad Vs Mauritius
Djibouti Vs Liberia