African football governing body, CAF conducted the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations Preliminary Round draw on Friday 21 January with The Gambia who are in the 2021 edition drawing minnows Chad. The Preliminary Round of the qualifiers is set to feature 12 teams with the rest of the 42 African nations set to join Group Stages qualifiers. AFCON 2023 preliminary round games will be played during March int’l break.The final round draw (classic formate of four-team groups with top 2 qualified for AFCON) will follow just after those games. #afrykagra pic.twitter.com/o3KxbNkvow— Lotfi Wada (@LotfiWada) January 21, 2022 The draw was conducted by Nigerian legend Emmanuel Amunike who took charge of Tanzania in the 2019 edition and Rigobert Song who is a two-time African champion with Cameroon. The 12 teams are the lowest-ranked African nations according to the November 2021 FIFA World Rankings with The Gambia who are in the last 16 of the 2021 edition after going unbeaten in the Group Stages part of the dozen nations.The nations include Lesotho, Eswatini, Botswana, The Gambia, South Sudan, Mauritius, Chad, Sao Tome and Principe, Djibouti, Somalia, Seychelles, EritreaAFCON 2023 Qualifiers Preliminary Round Draw Seychelles 🇸🇨 v 🇱🇸 Lesotho Somalia 🇸🇴 v 🇸🇿 eSwatini Chad 🇹🇩 v 🇬🇲 Gambia Eritrea 🇪🇷 v 🇧🇼 Botswana Sao Tome 🇸🇹 v 🇲🇺 Mauritius Djibouti 🇩🇯 v 🇸🇸 South SudanGambia now a big boy eh? Matches will be played in March#AFCONwithGary pic.twitter.com/8zoYI1OXiM— Gary Al-Smith (@garyalsmith) January 21, 2022 The six highest-ranked teams will play against the six least ranked teams (the 1st leg will be played at home of the lower-ranked teams).The six aggregate winners will join the 42 highest ranked teams into the Group Stage of the qualifiers as they look to make the final 24 who will travel to Ivory Coast for the continental tourney in 2023. The matches are set to be played in March. Full AFCON 2023 Preliminary drawEritrea vs BotswanaSao Tome and Principe vs MauritiusDjibouti vs South SudanSeychelles vs LesothoSomalia vs EswatiniChad vs The Gambia
