Confederation of African Football, CAF, has released the procedures for the draw of the 21st Edition of the U-20 Africa Cup of Nations.
The eight-team tournament will be held from February 2nd to 17th next year in Niamey and Maradi. The semi-finalists from the finals will represent Africa at the 2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup Poland.
The draws
The eight qualified teams Burkina Faso, Burundi, Ghana, Mali, Niger (host), Nigeria, Senegal and South Africa have been seeded in four pots.
The best-seeded teams Niger, the host association and Senegal the runner-up of the last edition will be separated in group A and B respectively; Niger will be A1 and Senegal will be B1. The others have been seeded as follows: Mali and South Africa are seeded in pot one; Ghana and Nigeria in pot 3; Burkina Faso and Burundi in pot 4.
The first team to be drawn from the 1st pot will be in group A and another ball will be drawn from pot 3 containing the position of group A to determine its position (A2-A3-A4); then the second team to be drawn will automatically be in group B, then a ball will be drawn from pot 4 to determine its position (B2-B3-B4).
For the 4 remaining teams in pot 2, the ball to be drawn first will be in group A and a draw will be done to determine its position (A2-A3-A4) from the third pot and the ball drawn 2nd will be in group B and a draw will be done to determine its position (B2-B3-B4) from pot 4.
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The same procedure will be repeated until all the teams are drawn.
The draw will take place on Thursday 13th December 2018 at the Centre Technique de La Fenifoot, Niamey.
The qualified teams are host Niger, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Ghana, Mali, Nigeria, Senegal and South Africa.