Full List: AFCON 2025 Preliminary Draw Confirmed

The 2025 Africa Cup of Nations preliminary draw took place today at the Confederations of African Football headquarters in Cairo, Egypt.

Sportxparte reports that the development is coming following the end of the 34th edition of the AFCON tournament held in Ivory Coast.

The AFCON preliminary draw included the eight lowest-ranked teams based on the FIFA ranking: Somalia, Djibouti, Sao Tome, Chad, Mauritius, South Sudan, Liberia and, Eswatini.

These teams are scheduled to compete in a home and away-format within the FIFA Window from March 18 to March 26.

Below is the AFCON preliminary draw:

First leg:

• Somalia vs Eswatini
• Sao Tome vs South Sudan
• Chad vs Mauritius
• Djibouti vs Liberia

Second leg:

• Eswatini vs Somalia
• South Sudan vs Sao Tome
• Mauritius vs Chad
• Liberia vs Djibouti

The four preliminary round winners will join the 44 exempted teams for the group stage.

However, 24 teams will take part in the AFCON 2025 finals to be hosted by Morocco.

Recall that the recently concluded 2023 AFCON took place in Côte d’Ivoire, with the host team, the Elephants, emerging as the champions after defeating the Super Eagles of Nigeria 2-1 in the final match.