Six Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers in World Cup draw

Six of the 24 teams who played at the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations in Egypt will be included in the 2022 World Cup Africa preliminary qualifying draw to be made Monday.

Zimbabwe, Namibia, Angola, Guinea-Bissau and Tanzania are in Pot 1 for the Cairo ceremony as they were ranked between 27th and 40th in Africa this month.

Burundi, the other Cup of Nations qualifiers, are in Pot 2 as they lie 43rd and will enjoy home advantage first during two-leg September ties like the other 13 lower ranked countries.

The 14 preliminary round winners and the 26 countries who received byes will be split into 10 groups of four after a fresh draw with the first matches next March.

Group winners then go into five two-leg playoffs with the winners qualifying for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

Seeding

Pot 1: Zimbabwe, Sierra Leone, Mozambique, Namibia, Angola, Guinea-Bissau, Malawi, Togo, Sudan, Rwanda, Tanzania, Equatorial Guinea, eSwatini (formerly Swaziland), Lesotho

Pot 2: Comoros, Botswana, Burundi, Ethiopia, Liberia, Mauritius, Gambia, South Sudan, Chad, Sao Tome e Principe, Seychelles, Djibouti, Somalia, Eritrea

Byes

Senegal, Tunisia, Nigeria, Algeria, Morocco, Egypt, Ghana, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ivory Coast, Mali, Burkina Faso, South Africa, Guinea, Cape Verde, Uganda, Zambia, Benin, Gabon, Congo Brazzaville, Madagascar, Niger, Libya, Mauritania, Kenya, Central African Republic

Matchdays

Preliminary round: Sept 2/10 (both legs); groups: Mar 23/31 2020, June 1/9, Mar 22/30 2021 (two rounds), Aug 30/Sept 7, Oct 4/12; playoffs: Nov 8/16 (both legs)