The draw ceremony for the 35th Africa Cup of Nations finals will take place at the Mohamed V National Theatre in Rabat, Morocco on Monday evening.
Three-time African champions Nigeria have been placed in Pot 1, alongside seven-time winners Egypt, three-time champions and Cup holders Cote d’Ivoire, two-time winners Algeria, hosts and 1976 champions Morocco and 2021 winners Senegal.
Super Eagles’ Head Coach Éric Sékou Chelle and Team Administrator, Dayo Enebi Achor, alongside the Chairman of NFF Technical and Development Committee, Alhaji Sharif Rabiu Inuwa will attend the colourful ceremony in the heart of Morocco’s administrative capital.
The final tournament that begins on 21st December and ends on 18th January is unique in some ways, including being the first ever to start in a particular year and run into another year. Morocco will play host to Africa again since hosting the 1988 tournament that was won by Cameroon.
The North African country was handed the hosting right for the 2015 finals, but ducked at the eleventh hour in the midst of the ebola scare across some nations in the continent
Since then, the country has hosted a plethora of football championships, including the African Nations Championship in 2018 (which she won), the Women Africa Cup of Nations in 2022 (in which she finished as runner-up) and the FIFA Club World Cup in 2023. Morocco will also co-host the 2030 FIFA World Cup finals alongside neighbours Spain and Portugal.
Nigeria’s Super Eagles hold the record for the most medals from the 68-year-old championship: 16 in 20 previous participations.
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They are three-time winners (1980, 1994, 2013), finished as runners-up on five occasions (1984, 1988, 1990, 2000 and 2023), and took the bronze eight times (1976, 1978, 1992, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2010 and 2019).
The Eagles lost out in the quarter-finals in 2008 and were eliminated in the second round in 2021. Only in their debut in 1963, and as Cup holders in 1982, have the Eagles failed to proceed beyond the tournament group phase.
Nigeria have also played a total of 104 matches at the final tournament, 4th overall behind Egypt (111), Cote d’Ivoire (106) and Ghana (105).
The Full Pots
Pot 1: Morocco, Senegal, Egypt, Algeria, Nigeria, Cote d’Ivoire
Pot 2: Cameroon, Mali, Tunisia, South Africa, DR Congo, Burkina Faso
Pot 3: Gabon, Angola, Zambia, Uganda, Equatorial Guinea, Benin Republic
Pot 4: Mozambique, Comoros, Tanzania, Sudan, Zimbabwe, Botswana
3 Comments
Consequences of treating Rwanda match late last year as “dead rubber match”.
In February 2024, we were ranked 28th globally and 2nd on the continent – right after AFCON final but 10 months later in November, we are currently ranked 44th in the world and 6th on the continent.
Remaining one more less position and we would have been in pot 2 for Monday draws.
Dead rubber match my foot as if senior national team matches are up to 20 every year.
Chelle, please do away with several bench warming, big man, pompous and camp strolling players in your March qualifiers list.
Don’t listen to Eguavoen even if he is out technical department director who will only give you a list of players he’s only worked with.
Chelle, I know you might not stop some players strolling into camp because NFF are owing them 29 matches allowances and bonuses which means many of them will book their flights by themselves with their money and claim coming to camp 2 days to match day was the only time flight was available to come to Africa.
Invite serious players who believe going to the world cup is prestigious for Nigeria and in return will have multiple ripple effects on our nation in every sector.
Ban so called pep talks by politicians at half time in the dressing room.
You are a pharaoh that does not know Joseph.
Make it count.
Seriously, Eguaveon is a disaster. I wonder why he still keeps his job. Had delivered nothing since he had been there. Chelle should not be fooled and he should only work with players that can deliver. We all saw how Egu-failure tried to impose players and tactics on Poseiro and that one denied him of such malicious interference. Chelle is set up for failure already. He can’t qualify us for the world cup which means he would be sacked and Eguaveon would coach us at the AFCON again. Oh, no. Even of Chelle must fail, he should fail at his won bidding and not be dictated by bureaucrats. He should do away with Iheanacho, Chukweze, Aribo, till they regain form. The super eagles should always be a place of competition.
Won’t it be interesting if Nigeria is group with Mali, Benin and Comoro?