Egypt will be abscent in 2012 African Cup of Nations finals. (Photo: El Sayed Abdel-Kader)
The 2013 African Cup of Nations qualification draw that was made in the capital of Equatorial Guinea, Malabo on Saturday, paired Egypt with Central Africa in the second preliminary round.
According to the Confederation of African Football (CAF) official website, the 16 teams that qualified to the tournament’s next edition in 2012 will not participate in the preliminary rounds, but will automatically play in the final round of qualifiers.
In the second preliminary round, 28 countries will meet in first and second leg to qualify 14 teams.
The preliminary rounds will be played in the first half of 2012 (the exact date of the matches are yet to be announced).
If the Pharaohs succeeded to pass Central Africa, they will qualify for the qualifications final round which will be played in September and October 2012.
In the final round the 16 teams that qualified to the 2012 edition will play alongside the 14 qualified teams from the second preliminary round in first and second leg formula to qualify 15 countries.
Egypt, winner of the last three tournaments, will be absent in the 2012 finals, which will be co-hosted by Gabon and Equatorial Guinea, as they were already tumbled out early in the preliminaries.
The full draw:
Preliminary Round 1:
Seychelles v Swaziland (Win 1/2)
Sao Tome v Lesotho (Win 3/4)
Preliminary Round :
Ethiopia v Benin
Rwanda v Nigeria
Congo v Uganda
Burundi v Zimbabwe
Algeria v Gambia
Kenya v Togo
Win 3/ 4 v Sierra Leone
Guinea Bissau v Cameroon
Chad v Malawi
Win 1/ 2 v RD Congo
Tanzania v Mozambique
Central Africa v Egypt
Madagascar v Cape Verde
Liberia v Namibia
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