AFCON 2021 draw set for Tuesday Aug 17; Ghana placed in pot two

Ghana is in pot two ahead of the 2022 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) draw to be held on Tuesday, August 17, 2021, according to the Confederation of African Football (CAF).

The draw which will take place at Palas de Congres Hotel in Yaounde, Cameroon, will see the 24 participating teams divided into six groups of four.

The draw which was initially postponed in June due to the coronavirus pandemic affecting the world has the Four times African champions placed in a pot that has the likes of seven times champions Egypt, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Guinea, Burkina Faso and Mali.

This means the Black Stars would face any of the teams in Pot 1, which has defending champions, Algeria, rivals Nigeria, Tunisia, Senegal and hosts nation Cameroon.

The grouping of teams into Pots is based on the official FIFA ranking, which has Ghana in the seventh position in the lastest ranking.

Procedures of the Draw:
The 24 qualified teams are allocated to four pots of six teams each, based on the FIFA/Coca-Cola World ranking released on 12 August 2021 (the last ranking released before the date of the draw).

Based on this ranking, the top four teams are allocated to Pot 1 along with the hosts, Cameroon, and the
title holder Algeria.

The remaining 18 teams are allocated to the three remaining pots – 2, 3 and 4 according to their ranking in descending order.

The Pots

Host nation Cameroon is in Pot 1 alongside Algeria, Senegal, Tunisia, Nigeria and Morocco while Egypt, Ghana, Mali, Ivory Coast, Guinea and Burkina Faso are in Pot 2. In Pot 3, there is Cape Verde, Gabon, Mauritania, Zimbabwe, Guinea-Bissau and Sierra Leone. Sudan, Malawi, Comoros, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia and Gambia make Pot 4.

The last time Ghana won the Nations Cup was in 1982, but have come close three times since, in 1992, 2010 and 2015.

The 2022 Afcon is expected to start on January 9 until February 6 with five host cities confirmed for the biennial tournament.