CAF Conducts AFCON 2025 Preliminary Round Draw with Full Fixtures

By: Emmanuel Ibitoye

The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has officially conducted the preliminary round draw for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON). The draw took place at CAF’s headquarters in Cairo, Egypt, on Tuesday. In this preliminary round, the eight lowest-ranked teams from the last FIFA ranking participated in the draw.

AFCON 2025 – Preliminary Round Fixtures:

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

These matches will be played on a home-and-away basis between March 20 and March 26, 2024. The four winners from the preliminary round will advance to join the 44 exempted teams for the group stage of the competition.

Meanwhile, CAF has tentatively agreed for the 2025 Cup of Nations to be hosted in Morocco, with the proposed dates being July 20 to August 16 or 17, 2025. This agreement, supported by FIFA, follows talks that began several months ago and intensified during the last edition of AFCON, which concluded recently in Ivory Coast.

The previous two Africa Cup of Nations were rescheduled from their original dates. The 2021 tournament, hosted by Cameroon, was played in January and February 2022. The most recent edition, initially planned for June and July 2023, was rescheduled due to weather concerns.

Qualification matches for the 2025 AFCON have yet to commence, with a preliminary round scheduled for next month. Looking ahead, the 2027 Cup of Nations is set to be jointly hosted by Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania.