The draw is on Thursday, August 18, 2022 in Cairo, Egypt at 13:00 local time (11:00 GMT)
Below is the modified draw procedure:
Format:
– 1st round: the 20 least ranked teams will play the 1st round (knock out from home & away matches) qualifying 10 teams to the 2nd round.
– 2nd round: The 10 teams qualified from the 1st round + the 18 exempted from the 1st round will play the 2nd round (knock out from home & away matches) qualifying 14 teams to the 3rd round.
– 3rd round: The 14 teams qualified from the 2nd round will play the 3rd round (knock out from home & away matches) qualifying 7 teams to the final tournament in addition to the host country Morocco.
– The final tournament of the U23 Africa Cup of Nations will serve as final qualifier round to the Men Olympic Football tournament.
FIRST ROUND
The non-exempted teams participating in the 1st round (20 teams):
1 team from UNAF: Libya
3 teams from WAFU A: Gambia, Guinea Bissau & Mauritania
3 teams from WAFU B: Burkina Faso, Niger & Togo
1 team from UNIFFAC: RD Congo
4 teams from CECAFA: Ethiopia, Rwanda, South Sudan & Tanzania
and 8 teams from COSAFA: Angola, Botswana, Eswatini, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia & Seychelles
Teams exempted according to the attached ranking (18 teams):
UNAF: Algeria, Egypt & Tunisia
WAFU A: Guinea, Mali, Senegal & S. Leone
WAFU B: Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana & Nigeria
CECAFA : Sudan & Uganda
UNIFFAC: Cameroon, Congo & Gabon
COSAFA : South Africa & Zambia
The zones will be mixed geographically in the preliminaries as follows:
POT A: 3 teams of WAFU A + 3 teams from WAFU B
· Gambia
· Guinea Bissau
· Mauritania
· Burkina Faso
· Niger
· Togo
POT B: 4 teams of CECAFA + 1 team of UNAF + 1 team from UNIFFAC:
· RD Congo
· Ethiopia
· Rwanda
· South Sudan
· Tanzania
· Libya
POT C: 8 teams of COSAFA
· Angola
· Botswana
· Eswatini
· Madagascar
· Mauritius
· Mozambique
· Namibia
· Seychelles
To ensure fairness in the zonal distribution of the teams, 2 balls will be drawn from pot A and will play against each other, followed by 2 balls from pot B and will play against each other followed by 2 balls from pot C playing against each other. This process is repeated until all teams are drawn.
Matches 1 & 2: 1st and 2nd teams drawn from pot A
Matches 3 & 4: 3rd and 4th teams drawn from pot B
Matches 5 & 6: 5th and 6th teams drawn from pot C
Matches 7 & 8: Same procedures is repeated
Matches 9 & 10: Same procedures is repeated
Matches 11 & 12: Same procedures is repeated
Matches 13 & 14: Same procedures is repeated
Matches 15 & 16: Same procedures is repeated
Matches 17 & 18: Same procedures is repeated
Matches 19 & 20: Same procedures is repeated
Dates: First leg and second leg matches: September 19-27, 2022
SECOND ROUND
In this round the exempted teams are distributed according to their ranking.
· Teams of level 1 and teams of level 2 will play the winners from the 1st round by drawing of lots
· Teams of level 3 will play against each other by drawing of lots.
Level 1: Egypt, Nigeria, Côte d’Ivoire, South Africa, Algeria
Level 2: Ghana, Senegal, Gabon, Mali, Cameroon
Level 3: Tunisia, Zambia, Congo, Sudan, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Uganda, Benin
Matches 21 & 22: The 1st ball drawn from level 1 will play against win 1/2
Matches 23 & 24: The 1st ball drawn from level 3 will play against the 2nd ball drawn from level 3 (1st team drawn plays 1st match at home)
Matches 25 & 26: The 2nd ball drawn from level 1 will play against win 3/4
Matches 27 & 28: The 3rd ball drawn from level 3 will play against the 4th ball drawn from level 3 (1st team drawn plays 1st match at home)
Matches 29 & 30: The 3rd ball drawn from level 1 will play against win 5/6
Matches 31 & 32: The 5th ball drawn from level 3 will play against the 6th ball drawn from level 3 (1st team drawn plays 1st match at home)
Matches 33 & 34: The 4th ball drawn from level 1 will play against win 7/8
Matches 35 & 36: The 7th ball drawn from level 3 will play against the 8th ball drawn from level 3 (1st team drawn plays 1st match at home)
Matches 37 & 38: The 5th ball drawn from level 1 will play against win 9/10
Matches 39 & 40: The 1st ball drawn from level 2 will play against win 11/12
Matches 41 & 42: The 2nd ball drawn from level 2 will play against win 13/14
Matches 43 & 44: The 3rd ball drawn from level 2 will play against win 15/16
Matches 45 & 46: The 4th ball drawn from level 2 will play against win 17/18
Matches 47 & 48: The 5th ball drawn from level 2 will play against win 19/20
(Teams of level 1 and 2 play the 2nd leg at home)
Dates: First Leg Match: 21 – 23 October 2022
Second Leg Match: October 28-30, 2022
THIRD ROUND
Match 49: win 21/22 vs win 23/24
Match 50: win 23/24 vs win 21/22
Match 51: win 25/26 vs win 27/28
Match 52: win 27/28 vs win 25/26
Match 53: win 29/30 vs win 31/32
Match 54: win 31/32 vs win 29/30
Match 55: win 33/34 vs win 35/36
Match 56: win 35/36 vs win 33/34
Match 57: win 37/38 vs win 39/40
Match 58: win 39/40 vs win 37/38
Match 59: win 41/42 vs win 43/44
Match 60: win 43/44 vs win 41/42
Match 61: win 45/46 vs win 47/48
Match 62: win 47/48 vs win 45/46
Team mentioned first plays at home
Dates: First Leg and second leg matches: 20 to 28 March 2023