Even though they are not among the top four rated African teams on the latest FIFA Ranking, the Super Eagles will now count themselves lucky to be among the six top seeds for Tuesday’s AFCON draw in Yaounde.
This means the three-time African champions will head one of the six groups and so avoid a first round confrontation with the five other top seeds – hosts Cameroon, defending champions Algeria, Senegal, Tunisia and Morocco.
The Eagles will now draw from the other three pots, which could mean battling the likes of Ghana, Egypt, Cote d’Ivoire and World Cup rivals Cape Verde as early as the first round.
The top two teams in each group will advance to knockout rounds of the 24-team tournament in January 2022 along with four other “best losers”.
Pot 1
Cameroon, Algeria, Senegal, Tunisia, Morocco, Nigeria
Pot 2
Egypt, Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire, Mali, Burkina Faso, Guinea
Pot 3
Cape Verde, Gabon Mauritius, Sierra Leone, Zimbabwe, Guinea Bissau
Pot 4
Malawi, Sudan, Equatorial Guinea, Comoros, Ethiopia, Gambia
