AFCON 2021: Eritrea, Somalia to miss qualifiers

The draw for the 2012 Total Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifiers will be made on July 18^th with Somalia and Eritrea missing out.

According to the Confederation of African Football (CAF), Somalia and Eritrea did not register to participate in the qualifiers.

All the other members of the Council for East and Central African Football Associations (CECAFA); Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, South Sudan, Sudan, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Burundi and Djibouti have registered.

The draw will be conducted at the Aida Ballroom, Cairo Marriott Hotel, Zamalek in Egypt. The teams have been seeded in 5 levels according to the FIFA ranking as per June 14th.

CECAFA teams South Sudan and Djibouti who are placed in Pot 5 alongside Liberia, Mauritius, Gambia, Chad, Sao Tome e Principe and Seychelles will start the campaign in the preliminary round into four pairings and the winners of the two-leg ties advance to stage 2 as part of Pot 4.

Stage 2 will see 12 groups comprising of one team from Pots 1-4 and the section winners and runners-up qualify for the finals. Hosts Cameroon are guaranteed a place so only one other team qualify from their group.

Seedings

Pot 1: Senegal, Tunisia, Nigeria, Morocco, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Cameroon (hosts), Egypt, Burkina Faso, Mali, Ivory Coast, Algeria

Pot 2: Guinea, South Africa, Cape Verde, Uganda, Zambia, Benin, Gabon, Congo Brazzaville, Mauritania, Niger, Kenya, Libya

Pot 3: Madagascar, Zimbabwe, Central African Republic, Namibia, Sierra Leone, Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau, Angola, Malawi, Togo, Sudan, Tanzania

Pot 4: Burundi, Rwanda, Equatorial Guinea, eSwatini (formerly Swaziland), Lesotho, Botswana, Comoros, Ethiopia and four preliminary-round winners

Pot 5: Liberia, Mauritius, Gambia, South Sudan, Chad, Sao Tome e Principe, Seychelles, Djibouti