Super Eagles Too anxious for their 2025 AFCON qualifying opponents

By Jude Opara, Abuja

The Super Eagles of Nigeria will today know their opponents for the qualifying competition for the Morocco 2025 African Cup of Nations (AFCON) championship.
Three-time champions and five-time runners-up Nigeria alongside 47 other countries will know their opponents for the 35th edition of the continental fiesta when the draw is conducted in Johannesburg, South Africa.
The draw ceremony which will take place inside the SuperSport studio in South Africa’s commercial and economic capital will serve the 48 countries into 12 groups of four teams each.
The top two teams in 11 of the groups will qualify directly to the finals, already scheduled for 21st December 2025 – 18th January 2026, while the 12th group (which has host nation Morocco) will see Morocco qualifying automatically irrespective of the position in which they finish.
Also, another team adjudged as the best losing side from all the groups will join to complete the contingent.
The qualifying matches will be played over the FIFA windows of September, October and November this year.
It could be recalled that all of Nigeria’s opponents in the ongoing 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifying race: Benin Republic, Lesotho, Rwanda, South Africa and Zimbabwe, are all scheduled for the draw.
All 48 teams in the draw are:
POT 1: Morocco, Senegal, Egypt, Cote d’Ivoire, Nigeria, Tunisia, Algeria, Cameroon, Mali, South Africa, DR Congo and Ghana.
POT 2: Cape Verde, Burkina Faso, Guinea, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Zambia, Benin Republic, Angola, Uganda, Namibia, Mozambique and Madagascar.
POT 3: Kenya, Mauritania, Congo, Tanzania, Guinea Bissau, Libya, Comoros, Togo, Sudan, Sierra Leone, Malawi and Central African Republic.
POT 4: Niger Republic, Zimbabwe, Rwanda, The Gambia, Burundi, Liberia, Ethiopia, Botswana, Lesotho, Eswatini, South Sudan and Chad.