AFCON 2023 draw LIVE – Group stage ceremony and fixtures as Arsenal, Liverpool Chelsea and Tottenham stars discover fate

AFCON 2023 draw LIVE – Group stage ceremony as Arsenal, Liverpool Chelsea and Tottenham stars discover fate

Thomas Partey, Nicolas Jackson and Yves Bissouma are among the players set to discover their fates as the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations group stage draw takes place today

The draw is conducted in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire at 22:00 Cairo local time.

FULL DRAW

Group A: Côte d’Ivoire, Nigeria, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea Bissau

Group B: Egypt, Ghana, Cape Verde, Mozambique

Group C: Senegal, Cameron, Guinea, Gambia

Group D: Algeria, Burkina Faso, Mauritania, Angola

Group E: Tunisia, Mali, South Africa, Namibia

Group F: Morocco, DR Congo, Zambia, Tanzania

———————————————-

Pot 1: Côte d’Ivoire, Morocco, Senegal, Tunisia, Algeria, Egypt
Pot 2: Nigeria, Cameron, Mali, Burkina Faso, Ghana, DR Congo
Pot 3: South Africa, Cape Verde, Guinea, Zambia, Equatorial Guinea, Mauritania
Pot 4: Mozambique, Namibia, Angola, Gambia, Tanzania, Guinea Bissau

The 2023 Africa Cup of Nations draw ceremony takes place today. (Image: Daniel Beloumou Olomo / AFP)
The 2023 Africa Cup of Nations draw ceremony takes place today. (Image: Daniel Beloumou Olomo / AFP)
Hello and welcome to live coverage of the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations group stage ceremony.

Arsenal’s Thomas Partey and Mohamed Elneny along with Chelsea’s Nicolas Jackson and Tottenham Hotspur pair Yves Bissouma and Pape Matar Sarr are among several Premier League stars eager to discover who their respective nations will be paired with when the competition gets underway in the new year.

The draw for the group stages of AFCON 2023 takes place at the brand-new Parc Des Expositions venue in Abidjan from 8pm UK time with hosts Ivory Coast among 24 nations – including Nigeria, Egypt, Ghana, Morocco, Cameroon, Algeria, South Africa and holders Senegal – who have qualified.

Those nations have already been seeded across four pots in accordance with the latest FIFA Rankings that were published on September 21, 2023. Despite being ranked 50th in the world, Ivory Coast are in Pot 1 as the hosts and will be joined by Morocco, Senegal, Tunisia, Algeria and Egypt.

Unlike draws for UEFA club competitions, anyone can be pitted against anyone thus raising the prospect of some very exciting and intriguing groups especially when you take into consideration that Nigeria, Cameroon and Ghana are in Pot 2 with South Africa in Pot 3.

You can see the full list of qualified teams right here in addition to following all the build-up and then live updates from the draw ceremony as it happens with football.london below.

KEY EVENTS
THE DRAW!
21:01
One hour to go
19:02

21:10JOE DOYLE
Pot 2
Some big teams coming in at this stage: Nigeria, Cameroon, Mali, Burkina Faso, Ghana, and DR Congo…

21:09JOE DOYLE
Zambia
Zambia take a place in Group F with Tanzania.

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21:09JOE DOYLE
South Africa
Bafana bafana are in Group E with Namibia.

21:08JOE DOYLE
Mauritania
Mauritania are in Group D with Angola.

21:08JOE DOYLE
Guinea
Guinea are in Group C with The Gambia.

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21:07JOE DOYLE
Cape Verde
Cape Verde are in Group B with Mozambique.

21:07JOE DOYLE
Equatorial Guinea
They take the third spot in Group A along with Ivory Coast and Guinea-Bissau.

21:07JOE DOYLE
Pot 3
We’re onto the next pot featuring South Africa, Cape Verde, Guinea, Zambia, Equatorial Guinea and Mauritania.

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21:05JOE DOYLE
Tanzania
Tanzania are in Group F.

21:05JOE DOYLE
Namibia
Namibia take fourth position in Group E.

21:05JOE DOYLE
Angola
Angola take their place in Group D.

21:04JOE DOYLE
The Gambia
The Gambia are drawn in Group C.

21:04JOE DOYLE
Mozambique
Mozambique are drawn in Group B, position 4.

21:03JOE DOYLE
Group A
Guinea-Bissau are drawn along with Ivory Coast, and will face the hosts in the opening game of the tournament.

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Konga
21:02JOE DOYLE
Group A
Ivory Coast, as hosts of the tournament, are draw first in Group A.

21:01KEY EVENT
THE DRAW!
And here we go!

21:01JOE DOYLE
Boring bits
We’re now going through the draw procedures – going through how we’ll draw the teams in pots to make sure we have a tournament.

20:58JOE DOYLE
Drogba!
It wouldn’t be an AFCON without Didier!

The former Chelsea and Ivory Coast star is welcomed on stage with a huge ovation from the crowd.

20:56JOE DOYLE
Star power
PSG right-back Achraf Hakimi is joining Mikel on stage, along with former Liverpool star Sadio Mane.

20:54JOE DOYLE
Chelsea royalty
John MIkel Obi is on stage! He’ll be assisting with the draw.

Mikel did not hold back in his criticism (Image: YouTube/The Obi One Podcast)
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20:49JOE DOYLE
Teams introduced
We could finally be looking at the draw, with the 24 teams being introduced via a highlights package.

20:45JOE DOYLE
Motsepe chat
Patrice Motsepe has been talking about exceptional talent in African football and the power of football to transform. He also says he believes an African team will win the World Cup “in the not-too-distant future”.

20:39JOE DOYLE
Here we go
CAF president Dr. Patrice Motsepe is now on stage. He thankfully says he’s going to keep his remarks as quick as possible so we can get things going. Always liked Patrice.

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20:38JOE DOYLE
Yaya Toure
Yaya is here! We’re finally closing in on a football draw. He arrives looking resplendent in a suit while holding the AFCON trophy.

If I’m honest, the music welcoming him to the stage has gone on an awkwardly long time, leaving him standing there a good 30 seconds before he’s allowed to start talking.

20:34JOE DOYLE
New ball
The new ball for the tournament is being introduced. Closing in on a draw, here. Maybe.

20:29JOE DOYLE
Konnie and Akon return
The hosts are now talking about dancing. They leave the stage, and we are being treated to another performance.

20:25JOE DOYLE
Approaching the draw?
We’re now taking a look at the host cities and stadia for the tournament. Cannot guarantee the draw will be next up, but we live in hope.

20:21JOE DOYLE
Performance time
We’ve got more dancers on stage now – and another musical number before we decide to draw the balls out of a hat and decide who plays who.

20:16JOE DOYLE
Moving on
Ivorian politician Francois Albert Amichia is now speaking, acknowledging and thanking the FIFA delegations for their collaboration and support.

20:11JOE DOYLE
Akon in the building
Akon is also here to get things going. “How is everybody doing tonight,” he asks the audince, without much of a response from the crowd.

Looks like they’re hoping for the draw to get going sooner rather than later.

20:09JOE DOYLE
Polite applause
Some smiling faces – some looking a little less enthusiastic – as the opening dance number comes to a conclusion.

And now some progress as radio host Konnie Toure is here to begin the ceremony.