On Tuesday February 20 in Cairo, the Confederation of African Football drew the lots for the preliminary round of the AFCON 2025 qualifiers. Eight teams were involved in this first round, and Chad's opponents included Mauritius. Discover the complete draw.
With the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations just behind us, all eyes are already on the 35th edition, to be held in Morocco. On February 20, at the headquarters of the Confederation of African Football in Cairo, the first step on the road to the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations was taken with the draw for the preliminary qualifying round. The eight lowest-ranked nations according to the latest FIFA rankings were involved, in order to find out their respective opponents.
Ranked in Pot 1, Djibouti, Sao Tomé & Principe, Chad and Somalia were waiting to find out who would cross their path from Mauritius, South Sudan, Liberia or Eswatini in Pot 2. And in this little game, Chad didn't have much luck, inheriting Mauritius. All of which augurs well for an indecisive double-header. For their part, Somalia will face Eswatini, while Sao Tomé & Principe will take on South Sudan. The final match sees Djibouti take on Liberia.
For this preliminary round of the AFCON 2025 qualifiers, matches will be played on a two-legged format during the FIFA window from March 18 to 26, 2024. The four winners of the preliminary round will join the 44 teams exempted from this round, in order to move on to the group phase of the qualifiers.
AFCON 2025 preliminary round fixtures
Somalia - Eswatini
Sao Tome and Principe - South Sudan
Chad - Mauritius
Djibouti - Liberia
