Ghana’s Black Stars have been place in Pot 1 after the Confederation of African Football (Caf) determined the seeding for the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying draw set to be held in Cairo on July 18.
The draw will determine the make-up of the twelve qualifying groups, which will be created by drawing one team from pots 1-4 to be placed in each group.
The eight pot 5 teams will be drawn into four pairings and the four winners of the two-leg ties advance to stage 2, joining the eight teams already placed in pot 4.
Hosts Cameroon are in pot 1 along with Egypt, Ghana, Nigeria, Ivory Coast and Morocco. Cameroon are guaranteed a place so only one other team will qualify from their group.
South Africa join Zambia in pot 2, meaning that the two Cosafa region giants will again avoid each other at the qualifying group stage.
Pot 3 contains three teams – Zimbabwe, Guinea Bissau and Namibia – who got eliminated from this year’s Africa Cup of Nations group stage plus Madagascar who reached the last 16, among others.
The seeding
Pot 1: Senegal, Tunisia, Nigeria, Morocco, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Cameroon (hosts), Egypt, Burkina Faso, Mali, Ivory Coast, Algeria
Pot 2: Guinea, South Africa, Cape Verde, Uganda, Zambia, Benin, Gabon, Congo Brazzaville, Mauritania, Niger, Kenya, Libya
Pot 3: Madagascar, Zimbabwe, Central African Republic, Namibia, Sierra Leone, Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau, Angola, Malawi, Togo, Sudan, Tanzania
Pot 4: Burundi, Rwanda, Equatorial Guinea, eSwatini (formerly Swaziland), Lesotho, Botswana, Comoros, Ethiopia and four preliminary-round winners
Pot 5: Liberia, Mauritius, Gambia, South Sudan, Chad, Sao Tome e Principe, Seychelles, Djibouti
Eritrea and Somalia did not enter.
