After the final round of qualifying for the preliminary stage of the TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON 2023) last week, six countries have confirmed their place in the group stages.
The countries are: Botswana, South Sudan, Lesotho, Eswatini, Sao Tome and Gambia. The six qualified countries therefore join the 42 countries exempted from the preliminaries.
Botswana were automatically qualified due to Eritrea withdrawing, while Santomeans join after a 4-3 aggregate win over Mauritius.
Like Lesotho and South Sudan, or Eswatini, Sao Tome aims to participate for the first time in the AFCON.
The Gambia meanwhile, played for the first time at the AFCON, this year in Cameroon.
The date and time of the group stage draw will be announced in due course, CAF said.
A total of 46 nations will take part in the group stage, which begins next June. The teams will be divided into 12 groups of four (4) teams, the first two of each pool will qualify for the final tournament in Côte d’Ivoire.
Source: AfrikPage