2023 African Cup of Nations Qualifiers Draw: What to Expect on the Road to the Ivory Coast

• Forty-eight African nations will find out tonight who they will have to get past on the road to the 2023 African Cup of Nations tournament
• The continental showpiece event will be held between June and July next year in the Ivory Coast, the second time the west African country has hosted it
• Senegal will be the defending champions at the tournament and will seek to avoid the ignominy of failing to qualify for the competition

The draw for the 2023 African Cup of Nations will take place this evening in Johannesburg to a live international audience.

The 2023 AFCON - the 33rd edition of the continental showpiece - is set to take place between June and July of next year in the Ivory Coast. Forty-seven other countries will walk the path towards attempting to dethrone champions Senegal, which won its inaugural title back in February in Cameroon.

According to Goal, 48 nations earned the right to participate in round two of the qualifiers - the group stages - having been seeded in accordance with the FIFA rankings that were released on 31 March 2022.

Fascinating details about Mali's national football team

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There will be 12 groups of four teams each for the qualifying phase, from which only two teams can progress to the tournament.

The action will begin on 30 May and 14 June with match days one and two. The 19th and 27th of September will see match days three and four. Everything reaches a peak on the 20th and 28th of March 2023 with match days five and six.

The draw, conducted by CAF Director of Competitions Samson Adamu with the assistance of legends Lucas Radebe of South Africa and the Ivory Coast's Salomon Kalou, will begin at 19:30 CAT on SuperSport. It will also be streamed on CAF's website.

2023 AFCON Qualifiers pots

Pot 1: Senegal, Morocco, Nigeria, Egypt, Tunisia, Cameroon, Algeria, Mali, Côte d'Ivoire (host), Burkina Faso, Ghana and DR Congo.

Pot 2: Cape Verde, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea, Gabon, Benin, Zambia, Congo, Madagascar, Kenya, Sierra Leone and Uganda

Cameroon national football team squad, coach, world rankings, AFCON and trophies

Football

Pot 3: Namibia, Mauritania, Guinea-Bissau, Niger, Libya, Mozambique, Malawi, Togo, Zimbabwe, Gambia, Angola and Comoros

Pot 4: Tanzania, Central African Republic, Sudan, Rwanda, Burundi, Ethiopia, Swaziland, Lesotho, Botswana, Liberia, South Sudan, Sao Tome & Principe.

**Note: The best-placed team in the Ivory Coast's group will advance to the tournament. This is regardless of the host nations' placing in the final log standings.

Harambee stars in danger of missing out on 2023 AFCON amid Kenya's FIFA ban

Harambee Stars could miss out on an appearance in the next edition of the Africa Cup of Nations.

As reported on Sports Brief, qualifiers for the 2023 AFCON are already underway, with the Confederation of African Football (CAF) in July.

However, CAF has warned Kenya may not be listed among the countries that will be battling for the qualifiers owing to their FIFA ban.