Following Djibouti's withdrawal, the TotalEnergies U23 AFCON Qualifiers draw procedure has been updated.

alterations to the qualifying matches for the TotalEnergies U23 Africa Cup of Nations, Morocco.
The draw process for the TotalEnergies U23 Africa Cup of Nations, Morocco qualifiers has changed as a result of Djibouti's withdrawal and Seychelles' tardy engagement.

The drawing will take place on August 18, 2022 at 13:00 local time in Cairo, Egypt (11:00 GMT)

The modified draw process is listed below:

Format:

- First round: knockout matches between the 20 teams with the lowest rankings will be played in the first round, which will advance 10 teams to the second round.

- 2nd round: The 18 teams excused from the first round and the 10 teams that qualified from the first round will compete in the knockout phase.

– 3rd round: The 14 teams qualified from the 2nd round will play the 3rd round (knock out from home & away matches) qualifying 7 teams to the final tournament in addition to the host country Morocco.

– The final tournament of the U23 Africa Cup of Nations will serve as final qualifier round to the Men Olympic Football tournament.

FIRST ROUND

The non-exempted teams participating in the 1st round (20 teams):

1 team from UNAF : Libya

3 teams from WAFU A   : Gambia, Guinea Bissau & Mauritania

3 teams from WAFU B   : Burkina Faso, Niger & Togo

1 team from UNIFFAC    : RD Congo

4 teams from CECAFA    : Ethiopia, Rwanda, South Sudan & Tanzania

and 8 teams from COSAFA           : Angola, Botswana, Eswatini, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia & Seychelles

Teams exempted according to the attached ranking (18 teams):

UNAF: Algeria, Egypt & Tunisia

WAFU A: Guinea, Mali, Senegal & S. LeoneWAFU B: Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana & Nigeria

CECAFA : Sudan & UgandaUNIFFAC: Cameroon, Congo & Gabo

COSAFA : South Africa & Zambia

The zones will be mixed geographically in the preliminaries as follows:

POT A:  3 teams of WAFU A + 3 teams from WAFU B

·       Gambia

·       Guinea Bissau

·       Mauritania

·       Burkina Faso

·       Niger

·       Togo

POT B: 4 teams of CECAFA + 1 team of UNAF + 1 team from UNIFFAC:

·       RD Congo

·       Ethiopia

·       Rwanda

·       South Sudan

·       Tanzania

·       Libya

POT C: 8 teams of COSAFA

·       Angola

·       Botswana

·       Eswatini

·       Madagascar

·       Mauritius

·       Mozambique

·       Namibia

Seychelles

To ensure fairness in the zonal distribution of the teams, 2 balls will be drawn from pot A and will play against each other, followed by 2 balls from pot B and will play against each other followed by 2 balls from pot C playing against each other. This process is repeated until all teams are drawn.

Matches 1 & 2: 1st and 2nd teams drawn from pot A

Matches 3 & 4: 3rd and 4th teams drawn from pot B

Matches 5 & 6: 5th and 6th teams drawn from pot C

Matches 7 & 8: Same procedures is repeated

Matches 9 & 10: Same procedures is repeated

Matches 11 & 12: Same procedures is repeated

Matches 13 & 14: Same procedures is repeated

Matches 15 & 16: Same procedures is repeated

Matches 17 & 18: Same procedures is repeated

Matches 19 & 20: Same procedures is repeated

Dates:  First leg and second leg matches: 19 – 27 September 2022

SECOND ROUND

In this round the exempted teams are distributed according to their ranking.

· Teams of level 1 and teams of level 2 will play the winners from the 1stround by drawing of lots

· Teams of level 3 will play against each other by drawing of lots.

Level 1: Egypt, Nigeria, Côte d’Ivoire, South Africa, Algeria

Level 2: Ghana, Senegal, Gabon, Mali, Cameroon

Level 3: Tunisia, Zambia, Congo, Sudan, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Uganda, Benin

Matches 21 & 22: The 1st ball drawn from level 1 will play against win 1/2

Matches 23 & 24: The 1st ball drawn from level 3 will play against the 2nd ball drawn from level 3 (1st team drawn plays 1st match at home)

Matches 25 & 26: The 2nd ball drawn from level 1 will play against win 3/4

Matches 27 & 28: The 3rd ball drawn from level 3 will play against the 4th ball drawn from level 3 (1st team drawn plays 1st match at home)

Matches 29 & 30: The 3rd ball drawn from level 1 will play against win 5/6

Matches 31 & 32: The 5th ball drawn from level 3 will play against the 6th ball drawn from level 3 (1st team drawn plays 1st match at home)

Matches 33 & 34: The 4th ball drawn from level 1 will play against win 7/8

Matches 35 & 36: The 7th ball drawn from level 3 will play against the 8th ball drawn from level 3 (1st team drawn plays 1st match at home)

Matches 37 & 38: The 5th ball drawn from level 1 will play against win 9/10

Matches 39 & 40: The 1st ball drawn from level 2 will play against win 11/12

Matches 41 & 42: The 2nd ball drawn from level 2 will play against win 13/14

Matches 43 & 44: The 3rd ball drawn from level 2 will play against win 15/16

Matches 45 & 46: The 4th ball drawn from level 2 will play against win 17/18

Matches 47 & 48: The 5th ball drawn from level 2 will play against win 19/20

(Teams of level 1 and 2 play the 2nd leg at home)

Dates: First Leg Match: 21 – 23 October 2022

Second Leg Match: 28-30 October 2022

THIRD ROUND

Match 49: win 21/22 vs win 23/24

Match 50: win 23/24 vs win 21/22

Match 51: win 25/26 vs win 27/28

Match 52: win 27/28 vs win 25/26

Match 53: win 29/30 vs win 31/32

Match 54: win 31/32 vs win 29/30

Match 55: win 33/34 vs win 35/36

Match 56: win 35/36 vs win 33/34

Match 57: win 37/38 vs win 39/40

Match 58: win 39/40 vs win 37/38

Match 59: win 41/42 vs win 43/44

Match 60: win 43/44 vs win 41/42

Match 61: win 45/46 vs win 47/48

Match 62: win 47/48 vs win 45/46

Team mentioned first plays at home

Dates: First Leg and second leg matches: 20 to 28 March 2023