Three-time African champions, Nigeria, will know their opponents for the 35th Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualification race on Thursday scheduled to be held in Johannesburg, South Africa.
The Director of Communications, Nigeria Football Federation, Ademola Olajire, announced this in a statement on Tuesday in Abuja. The draw will be held inside the SuperSport studio in South Africa’s commercial hub and will group the 48 countries into 12 groups of four teams each.
The top two teams in eleven of these groups will qualify directly for the finals, scheduled for December 21st, 2025, to January 18th, 2026. In the 12th group, which includes the host nation, Morocco, both Morocco and the second-placed team will qualify, regardless of Morocco’s position.
The qualifying matches are set to be played during the FIFA windows of September, October, and November this year. Notably, all of Nigeria’s opponents in the ongoing 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifying race, including Benin Republic, Lesotho, Rwanda, South Africa, and Zimbabwe, are part of Thursday’s draw.
The draws will be assisted by 2023 African Nations Cup Coach, Emerse Fae and Former Moroccan International, Marouane Chamakh.
Here are the 48 teams in the draw:
POT 1: Morocco, Senegal, Egypt, Cote d’Ivoire, Nigeria, Tunisia, Algeria, Cameroon, Mali, South Africa, DR Congo, Ghana
POT 2: Cape Verde, Burkina Faso, Guinea, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Zambia, Benin Republic, Angola, Uganda, Namibia, Mozambique, Madagascar
POT 3: Kenya, Mauritania, Congo, Tanzania, Guinea Bissau, Libya, Comoros, Togo, Sudan, Sierra Leone, Malawi, Central African Republic
POT 4: Niger Republic, Zimbabwe, Rwanda, The Gambia, Burundi, Liberia, Ethiopia, Botswana, Lesotho, Eswatini, South Sudan, Chad
