In a colourful ceremony at the Confederation of African Football (CAF) Headquarters in Cairo on Thursday evening, the draws were witnessed by African soccer greats, Nwankwo Kanu, Samuel Eto’o, Khalilou Fadiga, Geremi Njitap, El Hadji Diouf and Jose Clayton with top CAF Executive members in attendance.

In charge of proceedings  was CAF Deputy General Secretary of Football and Development, Anthony Baffoe, ably assisted by Algerian football icon, Rabah Madjer, Cameroon’s Eto’o and Nigeria’s Kanu.

The 48 teams were drawn into 12 groups of four teams, in addition to the four winners of the preliminary round.

In Group A, Mali will join Guinea, Namibia and the winners between Liberia and Chad for size, while Group B has Burkina Faso, Uganda, Malawi and Djibouti/Gambia.

AFCON 2019 quarter-finalists South Africa will have their hands full in Group C against Ghana and Sudan while AFCON 2019 hosts, The Pharaohs of  Egypt are paired against Kenya, Togo and Comoros Island.

Togo and Comoros Island did not make it to this year’s continental fiesta while the Kenyan Harambee Stars’ exploits in Egypt ended in the group stage.

Though already guaranteed a place in the finals as the host nation, Indomitable Lions of Cameroon will feature in the qualifiers and regardless of their ranking in the group, their matches and results will only count in determining the qualification of other teams from their groups, namely Cape Verde, Mozambique and Rwanda.

Slated October 2019 are the preliminary round of the qualifiers with the group stage scheduled to flag-off in November 2019 and run till November 2020.

The top two teams from each group automatically qualify for the Finals of the 33rd edition except in Group F where Cameroon will qualify as hosts alongside the highest placed of the remaining three teams.

Below are all the Groups’ pairings with the top two teams expected to book their places for the 33rd edition of the Continental soccer championship

Group A – Mali, Guinea, Namibia, Liberia/Chad

Group B – Uganda, Malawi, Burkina Faso, South Sudan/Seychelles.

Group C – South Africa, Sudan, Ghana, Mauritius/Sao Tome.

Group D – Gabon, Angola, DR Congo, Djibouti/Gambia.

Group E – Mauritania, Central African Republic, Morocco, Burundi.

Group F – Mozambique, Cape Verde, Cameroon, Rwanda.

Group G – Egypt, Kenya, Togo, Comoros Island.

Group H – Zimbabwe, Zambia, Algeria, Botswana

Group I – Guinea Bissau, Congo, Senegal, Eswatini (formerly Swaziland).

Group J – Tanzania, Libya, Tunisia, Equatorial Guinea.

Group K – Madagascar, Niger, Cote d’ Ivoire, Ethiopia.

Group L – Benin, Lesotho, Nigeria, Sierra Leone