Hosts Côte d’Ivoire will tackle Zambia in the opening match of the first African Nations Championship on February 22 in Abidjan.
The Ivorians qualified automatically as hosts while Zambia overcame Swaziland, Botswana and Angola to secure one of two places reserved for Southern Africa countries.
Senegal and Tanzania complete Group A with the East Africans playing in an African Football Confederation national team competition for the
first time in 29 years.
Tanzania were another qualifier to come through three rounds, eliminating Kenya, Uganda and Sudan to trigger mass celebrations with a victory parade through Dar es Salaam lasting five hours.
Goals were scarce for Senegal, who squeezed past Mali and Guinea despite scoring just once in four matches as both successes were achieved via penalty shoot-outs.
Ghana are the top seeds and favourites in Bouake-based Group B with the Democratic Republic of Congo, Libya and Zimbabwe completing the line-up in a tournament restricted to those who play in their national championship.
After comfortable wins over Niger and Togo, Ghana came from two goals behind during the first leg in Accra to edge Nigeria 3-2 on aggregate in the highlight of the regional qualifying competition.
DRC also claimed a notable scalp, defeating Cameroon home and away for a 3-0 aggregate triumph after overwhelming neighbours Congo in
their first outing.
Libya trounced Morocco 3-0 at home to book their passage to the Côte d’Ivoire after entering the return match two goals behind while Zimbabwe pipped Namibia before proving far too strong for weakened
South Africa.
Group winners and runners-up advance to the semifinals and the tournament reaches a climax on March 8 with the final at the Felix Houphouet-Boigny Stadium in the Ivorian commercial capital. – AFP