Despite finishing the Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers on a high with a 6-0 thrashing of Sao Tome and Principe, the Super Eagles of Nigeria won’t be among the top seeded teams for the Africa Cup of Nations in Cote d’Ivoire next year, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.
Nigeria ended the qualifiers winning all of their games bar the loss at home against Guinea Bissau, and were ranked among the top five teams by FIFA which automatically means a place in pot 1 for the draws. Pot A is for the best teams in Africa via FIFA rankings.
However the recent rankings saw them drop to sixth in Africa hence missed out on a spot and with the host also not in the top six, they took the spot of Super Eagles despite their ranking as 9th on the continent.
Based on the ranking and as per the position of host, the team in Pot 1 are Cote d’Ivoire, Morocco, Senegal, Tunisia, Algeria and Egypt. The seeding and pots are meaning they will avoid each other in the group stages.
Below is how the teams were grouped into different pots ahead of the draws.
Pot 1
Cote d’Ivoire
Morocco
Senegal
Tunisia
Algeria
Egypt
Pot 2
Nigeria
Cameroon
Mali
Burkina Faso
Ghana
DR Congo
Pot 3
South Africa
Cape Verde
Guinea
Zambia
Equatorial Guinea
Mauritania
Pot 4
Guinea-Bissau
Mozambique
Namibia
Angola
Gambia
Tanzania
Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman
