CAF announces date for FIFA World Cup qualifiers draw
Confederation of African Football (CAF) has announced the dates for the 2022 World Cup qualifiers and 2023 AFCON qualifiers draws.
Cote d’Ivoire is set to host the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), for the second time in the country’s history and first time since 1984.
CAF announced on Saturday night that the draw for the tournament’s qualifiers will be held during the Africa Cup of Nations, on 21 January in Douala, Cameroon.
The preliminary round of the qualifiers will be played by a knock-out system and will include the lower ranked teams in accordance with the FIFA rankings. The teams qualified from this round will then reach the group stage composed of 48 teams.
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As for the draw for the final qualifying round of the 2022 World Cup, it will be conducted the following day, 22 January 2022 in Douala, Cameroon.
The 10 qualified teams will be divided into two levels based on the official FIFA ranking, published in November 2021.
The five highest ranked teams will play against the five least ranked teams (the first leg will be played at home of the lower ranked teams).
According to the ranking published on the 19th of November 2021 after the last round, the distribution of the teams on the two pots shall be as follows:
Level 1: Senegal, Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria and Nigeria
Level 2: Egypt, Cameroon, Ghana, Mali and DR Congo