Black Stars in Pot 1 of AFCON 2023 qualifying draw

Four-time African champions, Ghana has been pitted in Pot 1 ahead of the draw for the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers to be held on April 19.

The Black Stars are listed alongside top ranked African teams – Senegal, Morocco, Nigeria, Egypt, Tunisia, Cameroon, Algeria, Mali, Hosts Cote d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso and DR Congo.

According to the draw procedure released by the Confederation of African Football (CAF), the first set of teams to be drawn will come from Pot 4 until the draw ends with balls from Pot 1 finally picked.

The first ball to be picked from Pot 4 will be placed into Group A4, then the next ball is assigned to B4, C4 until L4 in that order.

The first placed team and runner-up from the 11 groups, where the Host Cote d’Ivoire is not featuring, will qualify for AFCON 2023.

For the qualifying group of Hosts Cote d’Ivoire, since they have an automatic qualification spot, they will go through with the first placed team even if Les Elephants finish third or fourth. But, if they finish first or second in the qualifying group, they join the other first or second placed side.

Pot 2 comprises South Africa, Cape Verde, Guinea, Gabon, Benin, Uganda, Zambia, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Madagascar, Kenya and Sierra Leone.

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

Finally, Tanzania, Central Africa Republic, Sudan, Rwanda, Burundi, Ethiopia, Eswatini, Lesotho, Botswana, Liberia, South Sudan and Sao Tome e Principe have all been placed in Pot 4.

In total, 48 teams have qualified to play in the second round of the qualifiers but if the suspension on Kenya and Zimbabwe is not lifted two weeks to their first qualifier, both teams will be eliminated from the AFCON 2023 qualifiers.