Gabon, the country selected to host Africa in 2017 for the Africa Cup of Nations Final.
Gabon were voted ahead of Algeria and Ghana by the Confederation of African Football’s executive committee on Wednesday in Cairo. Gabon were co-host in AFCON 2013, Equatorial Guinea were the other host in that edition. This will be the second time Gabon will be staging the Africa Cup of Nations.
The tournament was originally supposed to have been hosted in Libya but civil war has halted football in the country. Libya withdraw from hosting the AFCON last year and this called for a new host to be voted for.
Four venues will host 16-teams for the tournament which will be scheduled to be played in January and February. Four Cities will host the tournament; Libreville, Franceville, Port Gentil and Oyem.
CAF also had its draw that grouped countries for qualifiers. Morocco and Tunisia were part of the draw. Morocco won the appeal against the ban which was induced on them by CAF. A ban that would have seen Morocco miss AFCON 2017 and 2019.
Tunisia escaped from a ban after apologising for accusing CAF as bias when they Equatorial Guinea were awarded a questionable penalty in Afcon 2015 quarter finals encounter.
AFCON 2017 Qualifiers draw:
Group A: Tunisia, Togo, Liberia, Djibouti
Group B: Democratic Republic of Congo, Angola, Central African Republic, Madagascar
Group C: Mali, Equatorial Guinea, Benin, South Sudan
Group D: Burkina Faso, Uganda, Botswana, Comoros
Group E: Zambia, Congo, Kenya, Guinea Bissau
Group F: Cape Verde, Morocco, Libya, Sao Tome
Group G: Nigeria, Egypt, Tanzania, Chad
Group H: Ghana, Mozambique, Rwanda, Mauritius
Group I: Ivory Coast, Sudan, Sierra Leone, Gabon
Group J: Algeria, Ethiopia, Lesotho, Seychelles
Group K: Senegal, Niger, Namibia, Burundi
Group L: Guinea, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Swaziland
Group M: Cameroon, South Africa, Gambia, Mauritania
In all there are thirteen groups and group leaders at the end of the qualifiers will qualify automatically. There are two slots for second best placed teams and then Gabon, the host will make it a 16-team tournament.
Main Photo: Amr Abdallah Dalsh
