The draw for the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations has been conducted in Egypt tonight with the hosts being drawn in a tough group with DR Congo, Uganda and Zimbabwe. As qualification drew to a close in March, the draw has taken place to determine the groups for the 2019 Africa Cup of nations. Hosts Egypt are in a very tough group with DR Congo, Uganda and Zimbabwe, with all three teams possessing strong individual quality. Other highlights of the draw include Group C which features Senegal and Algeria, as well as an East African derby between Kenya and Tanzania. In Group F, Cameroon and Ghana have 9 AFCON titles between them including the most recent as Cameroon beat Egypt in the 2017 final. Group D features three former champions in the form of Morocco, Ivory Coast and South Africa, as well as the outsiders Namibia who will have their own derby with South Africa. The full draw is as follows: Group A: Egypt DR Congo Uganda Zimbabwe Group B: Nigeria Guinea Madagascar Burundi Group C: Senegal Algeria Kenya Tanzania Group D: Morocco Ivory Coast South Africa Namibia Group E: Tunisia Mali Mauritania Angola Group F: Cameroon Ghana Benin Guinea-Bissau The tournament will commence with Egypt vs Zimbabwe on Friday 21st of June in Cairo.<doc-sep>The Africa Cup of Nations draw takes place on Friday (18:00 GMT), with the 24 participating teams waiting to discover their countries' fate. But first there will be the process on how the draw will be conducted and it started with the seeding of the teams for the competition. The draw to be held in Cairo will be based on the April Fifa rankings which, ordinarily, would have placed Cameroon (ranked 54) and Egypt (57) among the second seeds. But it is a worldwide football tradition that hosts and title-holders are among the top seeds and the Confederation of African Football (CAF) executive committee followed suit. Teams have been separated into four seeding pots based on the Fifa world rankings released on 4 April. The other four top seeds are 2002 runners-up Senegal and three former champions, Tunisia, Nigeria and Morocco. Democratic Republic of Congo and Ghana - who lost out on top seedings because of Egypt and Cameroon - Mali, Ivory Coast, Guinea and Algeria are the second seeds. DR Congo (when called Zaire), Ghana, Ivory Coast and Algeria have won the competition and Mali and Guinea came agonisingly close, finishing runners-up. South Africa are the lone former champions among the third seeds, which also include Uganda, Benin, Mauritania, Madagascar and Kenya. Uganda were runners-up to hosts Ghana in 1978, then failed to qualify for 39 years before securing a place at the 2017 Cup of Nations in Gabon. Zimbabwe, Namibia, Guinea-Bissau, Angola, Tanzania and Burundi are the fourth seeds and several appear capable of causing upsets, particularly the Zimbabweans. They will then be drawn into six groups of four. Africa Cup of Nations draw pots Pot 1 Pot 2 Pot 3 Pot 4 Egypt DR Congo South Africa Zimbabwe Cameroon Ghana Uganda Namibia Senegal Mali Benin Guinea-Bissau Tunisia Ivory Coast Mauritania Angola Nigeria Guinea Madagascar Tanzania Morocco Algeria Kenya Burundi The top two teams from each group, and four best third-placed teams, go into the quarter-finals. The six group winners and six runners-up automatically qualify for the knockout second round and will be joined by the four best third-placed teams. After the eight second-round fixtures, there will be the quarter-finals, semi-finals, a third-place play-off and the final. This will be the first 24-team Cup of Nations - up from 16 - and the timing has changed from January/February to June/July to avoid European club-versus-country clashes.<doc-sep>Welcome to GHANAsoccernet LIVE coverage of the group stage draw for the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations. The draw takes place this evening at the Sphinx and Pyramids just outside of Egypt’s capital Cairo, with 24 countries await their fate ahead of the tournament finals in Egypt, as the tournament is scheduled to kick off from June 21-July 19. Cameroon, the reigning champions, are placed in Pot 1 alongside hosts Egypt, Senegal, Tunisia, Nigeria and Morocco, while 2015 champions Ivory Coast are in Pot 2. https://twitter.com/CAF_Online/status/1116742702136221696 Head coach of the Black Stars of Ghana, Kwesi Appiah and former Vice-President of the Ghana Football Association who also doubles as a member of CAF Organizing Committee George Afriyie are among the dignitaries to arrive at the event. https://twitter.com/CAF_Online/status/1116742174970974208 We're just a few minutes from getting underway... Live Updates This one of the most beautiful scenes to watch as the draw commences with some fireworks. Egypt raising the standards It seems people across the continent are falling in love with the staging of the AFCON draw at the magnificent and historical Pyramid. https://twitter.com/TomDanicek/status/1116771449182859264?s=19 https://twitter.com/akormiplenty/status/1116768411785338882?s=19 https://twitter.com/JuanG_Arango/status/1116768107907944450?s=19 The 32 edition of the draw will be conducted by Deputy CAF General Secretary Anthony Baffoe. We have some African legends who have joined us to help us in the draw tonight On stage are Mustapha Hadji, El Hadji Diouf , Mohammed Hassan and Yaya Toure. We already have the first draw of the evening as First team out of Pot 4 is Zimbabwe . . They go into Group A with Egypt. Burundi are in Group B. are in Group B. Tanzania are in Group C are in Group C Namibia are in Group D are in Group D Angola are into Group E are into Group E Guinea-Bissau are into Group F being the last team out of Pot 4 Uganda will move to Group A where they join Egypt and Zimbabwe will move to Group A where they join Egypt and Zimbabwe Madagascar are into Group B are into Group B Kenya will be in Group C will be in Group C South Africa are into Group D are into Group D Mauritania are into Group E This is the full draw for the Africa Cup of Nations 2019 which kicks off on June 21, 2019 with the opening match between Egypt and Zimbabwe https://twitter.com/CAF_Online/status/1116791311472836608 And that concludes the draw! Thanks for joining us. By Herbert BOAKYE YIADOM<doc-sep>Social media has been flooded with mixed emotion following Friday’s Afcon draw in Cairo Football fans have been divided following the outcome of Friday's 2019 Africa Cup of Nations draw in Cairo. While some fancy their countries' chances of scaling through to the knockout round, some are bothered by the chances their countries have in their respective groups. Article continues below The 24 qualified teams for this year's Afcon have been pitched into six groups with Egypt and Zimbabwe set to kick off proceedings at the Cairo Stadium on June 21. Below are some of the reactions to the draw held at Giza Pyramids and Sphinx. Ghana and Cameroon as well will be a nice game. Looking forward to it. https://t.co/FsQreYVYme — Langutani N'wamba (@Languta) April 12, 2019 Very pleased with Uganda’s AFCON draw! 🇺🇬 — Ryan Alden (@hawkmav) April 12, 2019 kenya is through to the quater finals of AFCON 2019 even without kicking the ball,just my opinion,,we beat Tanzania and algeria and a draw against senegal and boooom #AFCON2019 — Collins otieno (@VillageNurse_) April 12, 2019 There's no reason to go to afcon😥😥How are we to beat Algeria and Senegal.. 🤷🏿‍♂️#Afcon2019Draw — nerd (@hecklemaniac) April 12, 2019 This afcon draw is a farce from the onset. Teams from the same qualifying group paired together again... Looks as if Paul Biya made the draw!!! — Airwaves Commander™🇿🇦🇿🇼 (@mac_Gore) April 12, 2019 Group D is looking like the group of death in this AFCON 🤣🤣🤣 — adilieme michael (@adilieme) April 12, 2019 Lovely group for us #AFCON — Abdul Ndiomu (@Deinmowei_N) April 12, 2019 AFCON is coming home — Cherucole (@cherucole) April 12, 2019 We've got such a difficult Afcon group welp — billie eilish stan acc (@Clubsocs) April 12, 2019 Morocco in the harder group for Afcon. Ouuucccchhhh — yas (@ysmfidem) April 12, 2019 Afcon 2019! GROUP D! #BafanaBafana! Not bad for us..... We can go through! — Subaru (@Subsabzin) April 12, 2019 1st game at Afcon Zim vs Egypt and the other 2 teams in in our group are DR Congo and Uganda — Clive Majuru (@Clivemajuru) April 12, 2019 It doesn't look good. AFCON should just let us join forces. Morocco and Ivory Coast in our group? this is a SCAM — Iyaloo Pendapala (@Iyal222) April 12, 2019 Haaa Zim AFCON group magetsi. Egypt here amana — Mambo Muntu Delroy Matienga (@MatiengaMambo) April 12, 2019 So Zim Warriors are playing the Afcon opening match versus Egypt....i sincerely hope we win#Afcon2019Draw — Ruva_Rashe (@RuvaTheZimbo) April 12, 2019<doc-sep>
Several of the Africa's biggest teams will be confident after receiving favourable group-stage draws in Friday's ceremony outside Cairo The draw for the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations finals was officially conducted in the shadow of the Pyramids of Giza, Cairo on Friday, with the six groups throwing up some exciting. The expanded 24-team tournament will take place in Egypt in June and July 2019. South Africa have been drawn in the Group of Death, and Stuart Baxter's men will have to face off against fellow former Afcon winners Morocco and Cote d'Ivoire in Group D. Minnows Namibia complete the group, and will renew hostilities with Bafana Bafana after the duo were pitted against each other in the 1998 Nations Cup. The hosts, pitted in Group A before the draw, have been handed a tough assignment, and will open the tournament against Zimbabwe, before meetings with the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda. The Cranes qualified for their first Afcon tournament in almost four decades two years ago, where they were defeated by Egypt in Gabon. Holders Cameroon will meet Ghana in a replay of the 2017 semi-final, with Benin and Guinea-Bissau completing Group F. Nigeria should be relatively happier with their opponents, with debutants Burundi and Madagascar joining them and Guinea in Group B. In Group C, Senegal and Algeria are strong favourites to progress after being drawn against East African rivals Tanzania and Kenya, neither of whom can be taken for granted after impressive qualifying campaigns. Angola and Mauritania have their work cut out after being drawn against Mali and Tunisia in Group E, although they will be buoyed by the fact that four of the six best placed third-placed teams will progress. Afcon 2019 group-stage draw: Group A: Egypt, Zimbabwe, DR Congo, Uganda Group B: Burundi, Madagascar, Guinea, Nigeria Group C: Tanzania, Algeria, Kenya, Senegal Article continues below Group D: South Africa, Namibia, Cote d'Ivoire, Morocco Group E: Angola, Mauritania, Mali, Tunisia Group F: Guinea-Bissau, Benin, Ghana, Cameroon