By VICTOR OKOYE

Three-time champions and five-time runners-up, Nigeria are expected to know their opponents for the qualification race of the 35^th Africa Cup of Nations finals on Thursday.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the draw for the 2025 AFCON would be conducted in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Ademola Olajire, Director of Communications at the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), stated this in a statement on Tuesday in Abuja.

The draw will be held inside the SuperSport studio in South Africa’s commercial and economic capital.

It will serve the 48 countries into 12 groups of four teams each; with the top two teams in eleven of the groups qualifying directly to the finals, scheduled for Dec. 21, 2025 to Jan. 18, 2026.

While the 12^th group (which has host nation Morocco) will see Morocco qualifying (no matter the position in which they finish) alongside one other team.

The qualifying matches will be played over the FIFA windows of September, October and November this year.

All of Nigeria’s opponents in the ongoing 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifying race, Benin Republic, Lesotho, Rwanda, South Africa and Zimbabwe, are all in Thursday’s draw.

ALL THE 48 TEAMS IN THE DRAW:

POT 1: Morocco, Senegal, Egypt, Cote d’Ivoire, Nigeria, Tunisia, Algeria, Cameroon, Mali, South Africa, DR Congo, Ghana

POT 2: Cape Verde, Burkina Faso, Guinea, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Zambia, Benin Republic, Angola, Uganda, Namibia, Mozambique, Madagascar

POT 3: Kenya, Mauritania, Congo, Tanzania, Guinea Bissau, Libya, Comoros, Togo, Sudan, Sierra Leone, Malawi, Central African Republic

POT 4: Niger Republic, Zimbabwe, Rwanda, The Gambia, Burundi, Liberia, Ethiopia, Botswana, Lesotho, Eswatini, South Sudan, Chad. (NAN)

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