The Africa Cup of Nations tournament draw takes place in Cairo, Egypt today. And, ahead of the much anticipated draw - at the Pyramids - the 24 finalists will be placed into six groups of four teams each.
From there 16 teams will progress to the knockout round, using the same format of Uefa Euro 2016 with much of the focus on the dangerous nations including Kenya, Uganda, South Africa’s Bafana Bafana, Mauritania, Benin, Guinea Bissau, Tanzania, Angola, and Madagascar. Potential AFCON dark horses are South Africa with the underrated Zimbabwe also worth a look at.
Making their debuts are Burundi, Madagascar and Mauritania.
Cameroon are the defending champions, beating Egypt in the 2017 final with Liverpool pair Mohamed Salah (Egypt) and Sadio Mane (Senegal), Manchester City's Riyad Mahrez (Algeria) and Crystal Palace forward Wilfried Zaha (Ivory Coast) among the Premier League stars expected to feature.
The original timing of the event was changed from June 15 - July 13 to its current dates to allow players to rest after the Muslim holy month of Ramadan - when Muslims abstain from food and water from sunrise to sunset – which is due to start at the beginning of May and last until the beginning of June.c
The AFCON draw takes place at 18:00 GMT. The tournament starts on June 21; with the final set to be played on July 19.
