Bafana Bafana draw foes Nigeria for 2019 Afcon qualifiers

South Africa have been drawn alongside old foes Nigeria in the qualification comoetition for the 2019 African Nations Cup finals to be staged in Cameroon.

Bafana Bafana will also tackle Libya and Seychelles in their Group E, with the top team in each of the 12 pools and the three best runners-up advancing to the finals.

South Africa edged Nigeria in the 2015 qualifiers at the start of now sacked coach Shakes Mashaba’s tenure, and may fancy their chances again with the Super Eagles having also failed to qualify for the 2017 event in Gabon that starts on Saturday.

Bafana’s qualification campaign will start in June with the first round of pool games, before a long break until March 2018 for the next game.

The pool matches will conclude with a double-header in September 2018, and the final two fixtures in October and November of that year.  

Bafana were second seeds in the draw, behind the likes of Zambia and Cape Verde Islands, who may be behind them in the FIFA Rankings, but scored more points based on CAF’s ranking system that looks at recent performance at the Nations Cup finals.

The Zambians lucked out with a pool that also includes Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau and Namibia, one they would expect to win.

Zimbabwe are in an intriguing pool that also includes DR Congo and Congo-Brazzaville, as well as Liberia. 

The dates of the matches will be as follows:

20-28 March 2017: 2 Legs of the Preliminary Round

05-13 June 2017: Match Day 1

19-27 March 2018: Match Day2

03-11 September 2018: Match Day 3 & Match Day 4

08-16 October 2018: Match Day 5

05-13 November 2018: Match Day 6

THE POOLS

Group A

Senegal

Equatorial Guinea

Sudan

Sao Tome e Principe or Madagascar

Group B

Cameroon

Morocco

Malawi

Comoros or Mauritius

Group C

Mali

Gabon

Burundi

Djibouti or South Sudan

Group D

Algeria

Togo

Benin

Gambia

Group E

Nigeria

South Africa

Libya

Seychelles

Grouop F

Ghana

Ethiopia

Sierra Leone

Kenya

Group G

DR Congo

Congo-Brazzaville

Zimbabwe

Liberia

Group H

Ivory Coast

Guinea

Central African Republic

Rwanda

Group I

Burkina Faso

Angola

Botswana

Mauritania

Group J

Tunisia

Egypt

Niger

Swaziland

Group K

Zambia

Mozambique

Guinea-Bissau

Namibia

Group L

Cape Verde

Uganda

Tanzania

Lesotho

  - TMG Digital