AFCON
Road to AFCON 2023 is mapped out
The draw for the Africa Cup of Nations, Côte d’Ivoire 2023 has been conducted in Johannesburg, South Africa on Tuesday evening, with exciting matches lined up towards next year’s tournament.
The draw was conducted by African football legends, former South Africa defender Lucas Radebe and ex Côte d’Ivoire forward Solomon Kalou.
Defending champions Senegal have been pooled in Group L where they will battle out with Benin, Mozambique and Rwanda.
Hosts Côte d’Ivoire are in Group H with Zambia, Comoros and Lesotho. Only one team will qualify from this group, alongside the hosts. Comoros who were one of the surprise packages at the delayed 2021 showpiece in Cameroon are seeking for a second consecutive qualification.
Losing finalists from the 2021 showpiece Egypt have meanwhile been drawn in Pool D and Mohamed Salah will fancy another battle against club teammate Naby Keita as they have been drawn with Guinea, Malawi and Ethiopia.
There will be several derbies as well with East African rivals Uganda and Tanzania drawn together again, and they will face off in Group F together with 2019 champions Algeria and Niger.
Uganda and Tanzania faced off in the qualifiers for the 2019 showpiece where they drew 0-0 in the first leg in Kampala and Tanzania winning 3-0 in Dar es Salaam.
Tanzania also faced Algeria at the subsequent tournament in Egypt, where they suffered a 3-0 defeat.
Check the complete draw of the 2023 Africa Cup of qualifiers that was conducted on Tuesday
The top two teams of each group qualify for the final tournament that will be held in Cote d’Ivoire in 2023. But in Group comprising of Cote d’Ivoire, Zambia, Comoros and Lesotho; only one team will qualify as Cote d’Ivoire are automatic qualifiers.
Group A
Nigeria
Sierra Leone
Guinea Bissau
Sao Tome / Mauritius
Group B
Burkina Faso
Cape Verde
Togo
Eswatini
Group C
Cameroon
Kenya
Namibia
Burundi
Group D
Egypt
Guinea
Malawi
Ethiopia
Group E
Ghana
Madagascar
Angola
Central African Republic
Group F
Algeria
Uganda
Niger
Tanzania
Group G
Mali
Congo
Gambia
South Sudan
Group H
Cote d’Ivoire
Zambia
Comoros
Lesotho
Group I
DR Congo
Gabon
Mauritania
Sudan
Group J
Tunisia
Equatorial Guinea
Libya
Botswana
Group K
Morocco
South Africa
Zimbabwe
Liberia
Group L
Senegal
Benin
Mozambique
Rwanda
The Libyan Football Federation (LFF) has sacked its Serbian coach, Milutin Sredojević who is popularly known as Micho.
This is coming ahead of Libya’s back-to-back Africa Cup of Nations clashes with Nigeria next month.
Paradoxically, Sports Village Square gathered that the coach’s contract was only recently renewed for six months before the axe fell on the Serbian.
His sack was precipitated by the results obtained in their teo matches of the AFCON qualifiers.
Libya drew 1-1 with Rwanda at home and lost 2-1 away to Benin Republic despite beig a goal up at half time.
The Libyan side, Mediterranean Knights are due to play against the Nigeria Super Eagles in Uyo on 6 October while the return leg holds on 14 October at the 11 July Stadium in Tripoli.
According to information Sports Village Square gathered from Tripoli, the Mediterranean Knights’ coach, Micho led the Libyan national team to win nine matches since taking over in October of last year, he failed to build a strong team due to his poor choices.
He also took a risk with the footballers chosen in the AFCON qualifiers, and the result was shocking to the Libyan sports audience.
According to sources close to the Libyan Football Federation, there is a strong tendency to sign a national coach to lead the Libyan team during the remaining qualifiers for the African Cup of Nations.
CAF President Patrice Motsepe has lashed out at Ghana and some other African countries whose home grounds were recently banned from hosting CAF matches owing to inadequate facilities. He made the remarks in Nairobi, Kenya during a press conference,
After the MatchDay 2 of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers, CAF ruled Ghana’s Baba Yara Stadium in Kumasi as being inadequate to host international matches. Being the only approved ground in the country, Ghana will now look towards either Cote d’Ivoire or Togo for their remaining home matches of the Afcon qualifiers.
Other African countries without approved home grounds are: Djibouti, Chad, Niger, Eritrea, Gabon, Sudan, Zimbabwe, Madagascar, São Tomé and Burundi.
Motsepe voiced his frustration over the recurring issue of nations being unable to host home games.
“Nothing frustrates me more than a national team or club side having to play home matches outside,” he stated.
He stressed the significance of playing in front of home fans, adding, “You can’t grow football if the national teams or club sides aren’t playing in front of their home fans.”
Motsepe reiterated CAF’s commitment to working with countries to ensure they have at least one suitable stadium to host international fixtures.
“Our conversations in every country are to make sure there is at least one stadium capable of hosting a CAF category C game,” he emphasized.
The on-going CAF AFCON Cote d’Ivoire 2023 Coaches Symposium in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire has brought together, the last three coaches that handled the Nigeria national football team.
Gernot Rohr, Jose Peseiro and Austin Eguavoen are part of the the elite coaches currently gathered in Abidjan.
Gernot Rohr whose tenure of 5 years and 55 matches is the longest ever by any coach in Nigeria, is currently handling Nigeria’s Africa Cupof Nations and World Cup qualifying rivals, Benin Republic. He was succeeded in the interim by Austin Eguavoen who is currently having another interim stint.
Peseiro left his position after the Africa Cup of Nations
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