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First leg matches counting for the second and final round of qualifiers for the 2023 TotalEnergies African Nations Championship, will be played in stadia across the continent this weekend.
30 Nations will be vying for the remaining 15 spots for Algeria 2023, with host the local Desert foxes, Morocco and Libya, under the North zone (UNAF), already qualified for the competition.
The UNIFFAC zone Nations will be in action for the first time, after they were exempted from the first round of the competition. Equatorial Guinea and 2021 host Cameroon, will clash in Malabo in the away game this weekend, with The Republic of Congo going head-to-head with the Central African Republic, while two times winners DR Congo, will clash with Chad.
Ethiopia, who ousted South Sudan in the previous round, will battle it out with two times quarter finalist Rwanda, who were exempted from the first round of qualifiers.
Tanzania will take on Uganda, who will be in the quest for their sixth participation in the competition. Tanzania fired pass Somalia in the first round, while Uganda was exempted. On their part, Djibouti who needed the penalty shoot out session to go pass Burundi, now have in front of them a sudanese side that has finished third in all their two participations in the competition.
Angola, who recorded a three_nil aggregate win over Mauritius, will host South Africa. Angola who finished second in the 2011 edition, will be looking to return to the competition after the last edition, meanwhile South Africa will be in search of their third participation. Botswana and Madagascar will battle for their maiden CHAN ticket, while Malawi’s search for their first participation, will come up against Mozambique, who have featured in just one edition of the competition (2014).
Two west African heavyweights, Ghana and Nigeria, will square up in an exciting derby. Ghana outsmarted Benin in the first round, will take on Nigeria who finished third in the 2018 edition and missed out in 2020.
The local Elephants of Ivory coast will host Burkina Faso, while Niger will face Togo, who are in search of their second participation.
Senegal who eliminated Liberia, will be hoping to return to the competition for the first time since 2011, when they face Guinea. The Senegalese have missed out of the last four editions of the African Nations Championship. Sierra Leone’s quest for a maiden CHAN ticket, will see them face finalist of the last edition Mali, as Mauritania lock horns with Guinea Bissau.
The return fixtures will be played between September 2-4, with the aggregate winners in both legs of the second round of matches, will qualify for the 2023 TotalEnergies African Nations Championship, which will run from Sunday, January 8 to Tuesday, January 31, 2023.
