The draw for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers will take place this Thursday, July 4 at 12:30 GMT in Johannesburg, South Africa. If CAF has not yet revealed anything about the format, we can already make a projection on the hats of the draw. There should be four of them, made up of 12 teams each, which will be distributed according to their rank in the latest FIFA rankings. We will therefore have 12 qualifying groups, each made up of 4 teams and the first two will qualify for the CAN, the final phase of which will take place in Morocco from December 21, 2025 to January 18, 2026.
BURKINA FASO THE BIG LOSER?
The most formidable teams such as Ivory Coast, reigning African champion, Nigeria, Senegal, Morocco and Algeria will unsurprisingly appear in hat 1.
Burkina Faso, moved into the 2nd hat following the latest FIFA ranking, acts as the big loser, unlike Ghana, the big winner because it went from the 2nd hat to the 1st. That said, this second hat contains several other teams that are capable of fighting with those in hat 1: Cape Verde, Guinea, Gabon and even Equatorial Guinea. Drawing this kind of opponents will clearly not be a gift for the favorites either
THE LIKELY HATS
Hat 1 : Morocco (12th), Senegal (18th), Egypt (36th), Ivory Coast (37th), Nigeria (38th); Tunisia (41st); Algeria (44th); Cameroon (49th); Mali (50th); South Africa (59th); DR Congo (61st); Ghana (64th)
Hat 2 : Cape Verde (65th); Burkina Faso (67th); Guinea (77th); Gabon (83rd); Equatorial Guinea (89th); Zambia (90th); Benin (91st); Angola (92nd); Uganda (94th), Namibia (97th); Mozambique (103rd); Madagascar (104th)
Hat 3 : Kenya (108th); Mauritania (112th); Congo (113th); Tanzania (114th); Guinea-Bissau (115th); Libya (118th); Comoros (119th); Togo (120th); Sudan (121st); Sierra Leone (122nd); Malawi (125th); Central African Republic (127th)
Hat 4 : Niger (128th), Zimbabwe (129th); Rwanda (131st); Gambia (132nd); Burundi (140th); Liberia (142nd); Ethiopia (143rd); Botswana (145th); Lesotho (149th); Eswatini (154th); South Sudan (167th); Chad (178th).
