The preliminary draw for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations is scheduled to take place on Tuesday at the Confederation of African Football headquarters in Cairo, Egypt.

In a statement released by CAF’s Communication Department on Monday, the governing body announced that the draw for the TotalEnergies CAF Africa Cup of Nations, Morocco 2025 Preliminary Round, will occur following the conclusion of the 34th edition of the competition.

The draw is slated to commence at 14:00 local time.

According to CAF, the preliminary round will feature the eight lowest-ranked teams based on the FIFA ranking, namely Somalia, Djibouti, Sao Tome, Chad, Mauritius, South Sudan, Liberia, and Eswatini. The preliminary matches are scheduled to run from March 18 to March 26.

CAF stated, “The four preliminary round winners will join the 44 exempted teams for the group stage.”

Morocco has been selected as the host country for the 2025 AFCON competition. 

The recently concluded 2023 AFCON was held in Côte d’Ivoire, where the host team, the Elephants, secured victory over the Super Eagles of Nigeria with a 2-1 scoreline in the tournament final.