THE Super Eagles will soon find out the teams they will battle for spots in the Morocco 2025 Africa Cup of Nations.
The Nigerian side finished as runners-up in the last AFCON in February, losing 2-1 to hosts Cote d’Ivoire in the final in Abijdan.
The Confederation of African Football stated today that the draw for the 2025 edition will be held on July 4 in Johannesburg, South Africa.
The draw will be conducted at SuperSport studios from 2.30pm local time (1.30pm Nigerian time), according to CAF.
Nigeria will join 47 other nations, including the four winners from the preliminary round (Chad, Eswatini, Liberia and South Sudan) for the process, and the teams will be drawn into 12 groups of four teams each to battle it out for places at the finals.
Headlining the confirmed nations for the draw are reigning African champions Cote d’Ivoire joined by Nigeria, Algeria, Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, DR Congo, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Eswatini and Ethiopia.
Others include Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Rwanda, Sao Tome & Principe, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
The qualifiers are scheduled to kick off in September 2024 to determine the 24 nations that will compete for Africa’s most important football trophy in Morocco in 2025.
“Fresh from the thrills and successes of the TotalEnergies CAF Africa Cup of Nations Cote d’Ivoire 2023 where the host nation defied all odds to claim their third title, a line-up of intriguing matches is expected for the journey to the 35th edition of the showpiece continental sporting event,” CAF stated.
“In attendance will be selected CAF legends, representatives of the participating teams, members of the Local Organising Committee for TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations Morocco 2025 amongst others.”
The Super Eagles have won the AFCON title three times — in 1980 on home soil, in 1994 in Tunisia and in 2013 in South Africa.
Nigeia have qualified for the last three editions of the tournament (2019, 2021 and 2023) after missing out in 2015 and 2017.
