(http://cdnza.playfair.co.za/kickoff/2dc88ec95eaabfc76d3b96071e6b6e6e_80x80.jpg) Heavyweight contenders Ivory Coast and Senegal have been drawn together in the final round of qualifying for the next Africa Cup of Nations.
KickOff
Full gist below:
The 2013 Africa Cup of Nations final qualifying round draw took place in Johannesburg, South Africa on Thursday night, with the 30 countries remaining in the qualifiers discovering who their opponents would be.
As host nation, South Africa qualifies automatically, leaving 15 spots open for the remaining national teams, as they play their opponents over two legs to decide the victor and qualifier for the 2013 Afcon.
The 30 teams were divided into two pots ahead of the draw. Pot A contained all the seeded teams based on their performances at the last three Afcon editions. This included Algeria, Angola, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Equatorial Guinea, Mali, Morocco, Nigeria, Sudan, Tunisia and Zambia.
Pot B contained the likes of Botswana, Cape Verde Islands, Central Africa Republic, Ethiopia, Liberia, Libya, Malawi, Mozambique, Niger, DR Congo, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo, Uganda and Zimbabwe.
The biggest gasp of the night was reserved for the moment when Senegal and Cote d'Ivoire were revealed as opponents in the final round of qualifying, setting up a classic of African football.
Other interesting clashes include Ghana against Malawi, Nigeria taking on Liberia and an all north African battle between Algeria and Libya.
The 30 teams will play home and away fixtures on September 7-9 and October 12-14 to determine the 16 finalists, who will then be drawn into the Afcon groups on October 26.
The Full Draw can be seen below:
2013 AFCON FINAL QUALIFYING ROUND DRAW
Mali vs Botswana
Zimbabwe vs Angola
Sudan vs Ethiopia
Ghana vs Malawi
Liberia vs Nigeria
Zambia vs Uganda
Cape Verde vs Cameroon
Gabon vs Togo
Mozambique vs Morocco
Sierra Leone vs Tunisia
Guinea vs Niger
Libya vs Algeria
Cote d'Ivoire vs Senegal
DR Congo vs Equatorial Guinea
Central Africa vs Burkina Faso
Goal.com
Nice opponent against Nigeria,we must qualify for next year's edition of the AFCON.