ABUJA, – Nigeria were on Wednesday in Cairo, Egypt drawn in Group G alongside Egypt, Tanzania and Chad in the qualifiers for the 31st edition of the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON).
The Super Eagles who will open their campaign in the qualifiers with a June 13 home date with Chad were missing from the 2015 edition of the competition.
They will then travel to Tanzania before a home-and-away back-to-back duel with Egypt, to be followed by a visit to Chad, before hosting Tanzania in their final qualifier.
After missing out on the 2012 edition jointly hosted by Gabon and Equatorial Guinea, the Nigerian side were winners in 2013 at South Africa.
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But they also went on to miss out two years later in Equatorial Guinea, sparking a crisis which has left the team without a substantive coach until now.
Also, in the draw for the qualifiers for the 2017 competition in Gabon, Morocco and Tunisia were included.
Morocco had been banned from taking part in the competition’s next two editions after they did not host the 2015 event.
They were however reinstated after winning their appeal at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
Tunisia also escaped a ban after apologising to the Confederation of African Football (CAF) for accusing the governing body of bias during the 2015 event.
Morocco were placed in Group F, alongside Cape Verde, Libya and Sao Tome, while Tunisia will face Togo, Liberia and Djibouti in Group A.
Winners of the 13 groups will book their place at the competition along with the two best-placed runners-up, excluding the group which contains hosts Gabon.
Gabon, who were chosen as hosts hours just before the draw in Cairo, will however have their matches considered as friendlies, with only the Group I winner qualifying.
They have been drawn alongside reigning champions Cote d’Ivoire, Sudan and Sierra Leone.
The full draw:
Group A: Tunisia, Togo, Liberia, Djibouti
Group B: Congo DR, Angola, Central African Republic, Madagascar
Group C: Mali, Equatorial Guinea, Benin, South Sudan
Group D: Burkina Faso, Uganda, Botswana, Comoros
Group E: Zambia, Congo, Kenya, Guinea Bissau
Group F: Cape Verde, Morocco, Libya, Sao Tome e Principe
Group G: Nigeria, Egypt, Tanzania, Chad
Group H: Ghana, Mozambique, Rwanda, Mauritius
Group I: Cote d’Ivoire, Sudan, Sierra Leone, Gabon
Group J: Algeria, Ethiopia, Lesotho, Seychelles
Group K: Senegal, Niger, Namibia, Burundi
Group L: Guinea, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Swaziland
Group M: Cameroon, South Africa, Gambia, Mauritania(NAN)
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