Bafana Bafana Awaits AFCON Draw Tonight
The eyes of Africa and the world will be glued to Morocco later today (20:00) as the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations final draw takes place at the Mohammed V National Theatre in Rabat.
South Africa’s Bafana Bafana, who restored national pride in football history during the delayed 2024 tournament held in Ivory Coast, have been placed in Pot 2 alongside Cameroon, Mali, Tunisia, DR Congo, and Burkina Faso.
Interestingly, Bafana Bafana’s last year’s AFCON group included Mali and Tunisia, as well as Namibia. They secured four points to advance to the knockout stages. Since Tunisia and Mali are also in Pot 2, Bafana Bafana will not face them in this draw.
However, they are likely to be drawn with one of the strong teams in Pot 1, such as Morocco (hosts), Senegal, Egypt, Algeria, Nigeria, and Côte d’Ivoire.
As all pots have been revealed, a potentially challenging group for Bafana Bafana could include Senegal, Zambia, and the rejuvenated Zimbabwe, who are back in the Africa Cup of Nations finals after missing the previous edition.
Meanwhile, CAF has confirmed that several African legends will grace the stage to conduct the draw. These former star players include Mustapha Hadji (Morocco), Serge Aurier (Ivory Coast), Aliou Cissé (Senegal), and Joseph Yobo (Nigeria), all of whom have won this trophy with their respective countries.
The 24 qualified nations are as follows, categorized by pot:
- Pot 1: Morocco (A1), Senegal, Egypt, Algeria, Nigeria, Côte d’Ivoire
- Pot 2: Cameroon, Mali, Tunisia, South Africa, DR Congo, Burkina Faso
- Pot 3: Gabon, Angola, Zambia, Uganda, Equatorial Guinea, Benin
- Pot 4: Mozambique, Comoros, Tanzania, Sudan, Zimbabwe, Botswana
The draw procedure will be as follows:
- The ball of Morocco will be drawn first from Pot 1 and placed in position A1.
- The balls from Pot 4 will be drawn sequentially and placed in positions A4, B4, C4, D4, E4, and F4.
- The balls from Pot 3 will be drawn sequentially and placed in positions A3, B3, C3, D3, E3, and F3.
- The balls from Pot 2 will be drawn sequentially and placed in positions A2, B2, C2, D2, E2, and F2.
- The remaining balls from Pot 1 (excluding Morocco) will be drawn sequentially and placed in positions B1, C1, D1, E1, and F1.
The 2025 Africa Cup of Nations will be played from December 2025 to January 2026 in Morocco.
