AFCON 2025: Super Eagles to know opponents Thursday

Nigeria, three-time champions and five-time runners-up, are expected to know their opponents for the qualification race of the 35th Africa Cup of Nations finals on Thursday.

Supreme News reports that the draw for the 2025 AFCON will be conducted in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Ademola Olajire, Director of Communications at the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), stated this in a statement on Tuesday in Abuja.

The draw will be held inside the SuperSport studio in South Africa’s commercial and economic capital.

It will divide the 48 countries into 12 groups of four teams each, with the top two teams in eleven of the groups qualifying directly to the finals, scheduled for Dec. 21, 2025, to Jan. 18, 2026.

While the 12th group (which has host nation Morocco) will see Morocco qualifying (no matter the position in which they finish) alongside one other team,.

The qualifying matches will be played over the FIFA windows of September, October, and November this year.

All of Nigeria’s opponents in the ongoing 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifying race—Benin Republic, Lesotho, Rwanda, South Africa, and Zimbabwe—are all in Thursday’s draw.

ALL THE 48 TEAMS IN THE DRAW:

POT 1: Morocco, Senegal, Egypt, Cote d’Ivoire, Nigeria, Tunisia, Algeria, Cameroon, Mali, South Africa, DR Congo, Ghana

POT 2: Cape Verde, Burkina Faso, Guinea, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Zambia, Benin Republic, Angola, Uganda, Namibia, Mozambique, and Madagascar

POT 3: Kenya, Mauritania, Congo, Tanzania, Guinea-Bissau, Libya, Comoros, Togo, Sudan, Sierra Leone, Malawi, and the Central African Republic

POT 4: Niger Republic, Zimbabwe, Rwanda, The Gambia, Burundi, Liberia, Ethiopia, Botswana, Lesotho, Eswatini, South Sudan, and Chad.