The draw for the TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations 2023 group stage qualifiers will be conducted on April 19th, 2022.
Uganda Cranes who missed out on the AFCON 2021 will know their opponents when the Confederation of African Football (CAF) holds the draw.
The 48 teams will be drawn into twelve groups of four teams (from Group A to Group L). Groups will consist of the 42 teams which enter directly, in addition to the six winners of the preliminary round. The best two teams in each group will qualify for the AFCON 2023 to take place in Cote d’Ivoire.
The other teams from the Council of East and Central Africa Football Associations (CECAFA) that will be drawn include; Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, South Sudan, Sudan and Ethiopia. It is still not certain if Kenya who are still suspended by the world governing body will be considered.
According to CAF the first two group matches will be played between May and June, while two more matches will be played in September and the next two in March 2023.
Milutin ‘Micho’ Sredojevic, the Uganda Cranes head coach told URN that they will work hard to ensure that the national team returns to AFCON. “It is hard work that will get us back to AFCON,” says Sredojevic.
Uganda Cranes played in the 2017 AFCON in Gabon and the 2019 AFCON in Egypt. Ethiopia and Sudan qualified and represented the CECAFA region at the 2021 AFCON hosted by Cameroon early this year.
Senegal are the reigning AFCON champions after they defeated Egypt in the final.