South Sudan’s Bright Stars are waiting, fingers crossed, to know who they will face in the Total Energies Africa Cup of Nations Cote d’Ivoire 2023 Preliminary Round Qualifiers.
The draw will be conducted today (Friday), January 21, 2022, in Douala at (15:00 GMT, 17:00 CAT).
According to the latest FIFA rankings, South Sudan is among the 12 less-ranked teams that will have to participate in the preliminary round of 2023 AFCON qualifiers before joining the other 42 highest-ranked teams that qualify directly for the group stage.
The 12 less-ranked teams (countries) are Lesotho, Eswatini, Botswana, Gambia, South Sudan, Mauritius, Chad, Sao Tomé, Djibouti, Somalia, Seychelles, and Eritrea.
The 12 teams were also grouped into two pots (one and two)
In addition, South Sudan is ranked highly among Lesotho, Eswatini, Botswana, Gambia, and Mauritius in pot one, while Chad, Sao Tome and Principe, Djibouti, Somalia, Seychelles, and Eritrea are among the countries involved in pot two.
The six highest-ranked teams (Pot 1) will play against the six least ranked teams (Pot 2). The 1st leg will be played at the home of the lower-ranked teams, meaning South Sudan will play its first game away from home.
The first team drawn from Pot 2 will play against the first team drawn from Pot 1. These procedures will be repeated for the six balls in each pot.
The six aggregate winners will join the 42 highest-ranked teams in the group stage of the qualifiers.
Elsewhere, the Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup, African QualifiersThird Round draw will be conducted on Saturday, January 22, 2022, at the same venue and time.
The 10 qualified teams are Senegal, Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, Nigeria, Egypt, Cameroon, Ghana, Mali, and DR Congo.
The distribution of the teams in the two pots based on the available ranking on November 19, 2021, following the final round, will be as follows:
Senegal, Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, and Nigeria were in Pot 1, which has the highest rank.
Pot 2 includes Egypt, Cameroon, Ghana, Mali, and DR Congo.
The five highest-ranked teams will play against the five least-ranked teams (the first leg will be played at the home of the lower-ranked teams).