The five African countries at this year’s World Cup have been handed tricky groups at the tournament with Tunisia drawn to face world champions France while Cameroon will play five-time winners Brazil.

African champions Senegal will take on hosts the Netherlands in Group A with Ghana drawn in Group H to play Uruguay in what will be a repeat of the 2010 World Cup quarter-final.

Morocco will play Belgium, the second highest ranked side in the world as the Atlas Lions will take on the European side in Group F.

Africa’s biggest hope will be pinned on Senegal, who won the recent TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations, as they will play hosts Qatar and Ecuador.

The Teranga Lions, led by captain Sadio Mane of Liverpool, have been in excellent form over the year, having won Africa’s flagship tournament when beating Egypt in the final in February before beating the same opponent last week to qualify for the competition.

The Carthage Eagles of Tunisia will face tougher opponents in Group D as they will play title holders France, Denmark and a team from one of the playoffs in the coming weeks.

Cameroon are in Group G to face South American giants Brazil, Serbia and Switzerland while Morocco will face Belgium, Canada and Croatia in Group F.

Ghana will be seeking a revenge over Uruguay who eliminated them at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa under controversial circumstances and they will also face Portugal and South Korea in Group H.

No two teams from the same continental association were put in the same group, except for European teams.

In the overall draw, former champions Germany and Spain will clash at this year’s tournament after they were put in in Group E with Japan and the winner of the intercontinental playoff between Costa Rica and New Zealand in June.

Another interesting group is Group B where England will face geopolitical rivals USA and Iran as well as a winner from a playoff that involves their neighbours Scotland and Wales.

The draw in Doha, the Qatari capital, on Friday was attended by more than 2,000 guests including the CAF leadership led by President Patrice Motsepe, representatives of the five African countries participating in the competition as well as several other African federations leaders.

The draw assistants featured some African legends Austin ‘Jay Jay’ Okocha of Nigeria and Algeria’s Rabah Madjer as well as former World Cup winners Cafu and Lothar Matthaeus.

Nigerian music superstar, David ‘Davido‘ Adeleke, opened the event together with American star Trinidad Cardona and Qatari sensation Aisha as they performed the song, Hayya Hayya (Better Together) , which is the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 official soundtrack.

This was followed by the opening speeches by the FIFA President Gianni Infantino and Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, who vowed a spectacular tournament.

“I feel proud and happy that the world will see Qatar as we promised. We will provide an exceptional World Cup in our Arab world,” Sheikh Al-Thani assured.

Hosts Qatar, who will be playing in their first World Cup, will take on Ecuador in the tournament’s opening game at the Al Bayt Stadium in Al Khor.

The tournament gets underway on 21 November and the final is set for 18December, one week before Christmas.

Those Qatar 2022 groups in full

Group A: Qatar, Ecuador, Netherlands, Senegal

Group B: England, Iran, USA, Scotland/Wales/Ukraine

Group C: Argentina, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Poland

Group D: France, UAE/Australia/Peru, Denmark, Tunisia

Group E: Spain, Costa Rica/New Zealand, Germany, Japan

Group F: Belgium, Canada, Morocco, Croatia

Group G: Brazil, Serbia, Switzerland, Cameroon

Group H: Portugal, Ghana, Uruguay, South Korea

-Cafonline