The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has officially announced the drawing pots for the upcoming 2023 Africa Cup of Nations group stage draw.
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With all 24 teams now officially qualified for Africa's most prestigious tournament, all that is left is for each national side to find out who they will be facing in the competition's first stage.
The group stage draw for the 2023 AFCON is set to take place on 12 October, but before that, teams were seeded into their respective pots.
Nations were placed into their pots according to their FIFA rankings, meaning that the Pot 1 only includes powerhouses of the African continent. In it are reigning champions Senegal, record contest winners Egypt, host nation Ivory Coast and the north African trio of Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia.
Pot 2 posses a strong west African presence as Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Mali, Ghana and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have all been put together.
The teams are in ???The pots are set ???The #TotalEnergiesAFCON2023 draw is closing in. pic.twitter.com/3aD8gJDcBa
— CAF (@CAF_Online) September 21, 2023
The latter's inclusion into Pot 2 means that South Africa have dropped down to the third Pot, this is despite Bafana Bafana being on a nine-match unbeaten run.
The 1996 African champions beat the DRC 1-0 last week, however, seeing as they have usurped Hugo Broos' charges in the latest FIFA rankings, it now means that South Africa are in Pot 3 with Cape Verde, Guinea, Zambia, Equatorial Guinea, and Mauritania. The COSAFA region-based side will now likely be placed in a difficult group in just under a month's time.
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Confirmed drawing pots:
Pot 1: Ivory Coast, Senegal, Morocco, Algeria, Egypt, Tunisia
Pot 2: Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroon, Mali, Burkina Faso, Democratic Republic of Congo
Pot 3: South Africa, Guniea, Cape Verde, Zambia, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea and Mauritania
Pot 4: Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Namibia, Angola, Tanzania
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