AFCON 2015: Elephants, Indomitable Lions in tough draw

Cote d’Ivoire and Cameroon have been handed a tough draw in the qualifiers for the Orange Africa Cup of Nations Morocco 2015.

The duo was drawn together in the battle for the 15 places to join hosts Morocco for the final tournament next January.

Four-time winners, Cameroon, will have to contend with rivals, the Elephants of Cote d,Ivoire, DR Congo in Group D. The group arguably the ‘group of death’ will be completed by the winner of the Swaziland/Sierra Leone – Gambia/Seychelles.

The Indomitable Lions have been absent from the last two editions of the showpiece African football tournament and will be seeking to make the grade this time.

Another interesting group is Group F which houses record winners, Egypt, Tunisia and Senegal to be joined by the winner of Burundi/ Botswana – Central African Republic/Guinea Bissau.

Reigning

champions,

Nigeria

find themselves in Group A with South Africa, Sudan and the winner of Namibia/Congo – Libya/Rwanda.

Group B has Mali, Algeria, Ethiopia and the winner of Sao Tome e Principe/Benin – Malawi/Chad whilst Group C is constituted by Burkina Faso, Angola, Gabon and the winner of Liberia/Lesotho – Kenya/Comoros.

Ghana’s Black Stars are in Group E with neighbours Togo, Guinea and the winner of Madagascar/Uganda – Mauritania/Equatorial Guinea whereas Zambia, victors of the 2012 edition held in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea are in Group E with Cape Verde, Niger and the winner of Tanzania/Zimbabwe – Mozambique/ South Sudan.

The group phase will be preceded by the First and Second stage of the qualifying series that will give birth to seven teams.

CAF President Issa Hayatou in his remarks said the Africa Cup of Nations has continue to attract global interest with over 10 billion viewers recorded for the last edition in South Africa in 2013.