Stephen Dunmoye
Nigeria’s Super Eagles have been drawn with hosts Cote d’Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea and Guinea-Bissau in Group A of the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations.
The draw, which was conducted at a colourful ceremony inside the brand-new Parc Des Expositions in Abidjan, Ivory Coast on Thursday was hosted by global music star, AKON.
A heavyweight quartet of Africa’s biggest current and former football superstars, Didier Drogba, Mikel Obi, Sadio Mane and Achraf Hakimi supported the Confederation of Africa Football as draw assistants during the pairing.
The Super Eagles were seeded in Pot 2 following their drop in the FIFA rankings released in September.
By their seeding, the three-time African champions knew they faced the task of coming up against one of the top-seeded teams on the continent.
While they avoided a confrontation against the North African sides, Jose Peseiro’s men were, however, handed a tricky start to their campaign with a game against the Elephants.
The match at the 60,000-capacity Alassane Ouattara Stadium in Abidjan is one the most highly anticipated of the tournament’s group stage fixtures.
Ivory Coast have won the tournament on two occasions, first in 1992 and later in 2015.
Both sides were also in the same group in 1980 when Nigeria hosted the football showpiece with the game ending goalless.
In the other groups, record winners, Egypt were paired in Group B alongside Ghana, Cape Verde and Mozambique.
Group C has champions Senegal, 2002 winners Cameroon, Guinea and The Gambia.
Algeria will slug it out with Burkina Faso, Mauritania and Angola in Group D.
In Group E, Tunisia face Mali, South Africa and Namibia, while Group F has Morocco, who are ranked number one in Africa, DR Congo, Zambia and Tanzania.
The AFCON tournament will take place from January 13 to February 11, 2024.
