The draw for the qualifiers for next year’s AFCON was held in Johannesburg, South Africa with Lucas Radebe and Salomon Kalou assisting in the draw.
Ghana was placed in Group E alongside Madagascar, Angola and Central African Republic.
The 1st qualifying matches are scheduled between May 30 and June 14, with two more rounds between September 19 and 27 and the final two next year from March 20-28.
48 teams qualified to participate in the second round of the qualifiers and were seeded into four pots based on the official Fifa ranking released on 31 March, 2022.
The teams were then drawn into 12 groups of four teams (Group A to L) with the top two teams from each group qualifying for next year’s tournament.
MADAGASCAR
Madagascar was in Pot 2. Madagascar is ranked 22nd in Africa and 102nd in the world.,
Madagascar made its debut in the 2019 AFCON and shocked the footballing world by reaching the Quarter-final stage where they lost 0-3 to Tunisia. En route to the 1/8 th stage, Madagascar beat Nigeria (eventual medallists) and 2 time AFCON winners, DR Congo. After setting such high standards in Egypt in 2019, The Barea failed to live up to the billing as they did not make it to the 2021 AFCON in Cameroon. The Barea will be hoping to make their 2nd appearance at the AFCON.
Ghana has played Madagascar twice with the Black Stars winless in both games.
ANGOLA
Angola, nicknamed the Palancas Negras are ranked 35th in Africa and 126th in the world.
Angola has made 8 appearances at the AFCON with its best performance being the Quarterfinal stage at the 2008 and 2010 AFCON.
Angola made consistent AFCON appearances from 2006 to 2013 but have been inconsistent since then.
In the 2015 and 2017 AFCONs, the Palancas Negras failed to qualify for the tournament.
In 2019, they failed to progress past the group stage and did not make an appearance at the AFCON 2021.
They will therefore be seeking to make a return to the continental showpiece in June next year.
Ghana has played Angola thrice at the AFCON, with Ghana winning twice and Angola winning once.
CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC
Comoros and Tanzania are the 2 teams between Angola ranked 35th in Africa ( 126th in the world) and Central African Republic ranked 38th in AFrica ( 131st in the world).
Central African Republic on the other hand, has never qualified for the AFCON and will be hoping to stage an upset in this group to secure a ticket to its maiden appearance.
GHANA
Ghana is the only team in the group to have won an AFCON trophy.
The Black Stars have featured in the AFCON, 23 times winning 4 times.
Since 1992, the Black Stars missed only one AFCON tournament; the 2004 tournament. It is therefore fair to say qualification to the AFCON is a birthright for Ghana.
Source:Ghana/starrfm.com.gh/103.5FM/ Eugene Ofori Sottie
