National Telescope national telescope newspaper
The list of qualifying countries for next year’s TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) Cote d’Ivoire 2023 was concluded as Cameroon and Namibia secured their place on Tuesday.
The Indomitable Lions booked their place at a 19th straight finals, thrashing Burundi 3-0 in Garoua to top Group C.
Both teams played out a goalless draw in the first half before the Indomitable Lions broke the deadlock in the 46th minute after the resumption.
Goals from Bryan Mbuemo, Christopher Wooh and Vincent Aboubakar sealed a comfortable win to see off the challenge of Namibia, who took second and sealed their place in the competition.
Cameroon will join host nation Cote d’Ivoire and 22 other qualified teams at the tournament in January next year.
Continental giants Senegal, Egypt, Nigeria, Ghana, Morocco and Algeria are all among those who have booked their tickets.
While defending champions Senegal and regional powers Egypt and Nigeria and World Cup semi-finalists, Morocco will likely be among the pre-tournament favourites.
There will be no debutants as Gambia will make their second appearance at the AFCON.
Meanwhile, others considered as underdogs, such as Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau and Equatorial Guinea, have also qualified as they seek to surprise the big sides.
With the qualifiers now over, the countdown for the group stage draw will begin to determine the opening match-ups and help each team identify their opponents.
Below are the final 24 countries for next year’s AFCON:
Algeria
Angola
Burkina Faso
Cameroon
Cape Verde
Cote d’Ivoire (Hosts)
DR Congo
Egypt
Equatorial Guinea
Gambia
Ghana
Guinea
Guinea-Bissau
Mali
Mauritania
Morocco
Mozambique
Namibia
Nigeria
Senegal (Title Holders)
South Africa
Tanzania
Tunisia
Zambia
