The African Football governing body CAF on Tuesday conducted the draw for the 2023 Total Energies African Cup of Nations(AFCON) qualifiers, which will see 48 teams battle it out for the 23 spots at the show peace to be staged in Ivory Cost.

The Zebras have been slotted in group J alongside world cup bound Tunisia and 2012 AFCON co-host Equatorial Guinea  who appeared at the 2021 show peace in Cameron and Libya who like the Zebras have missed out on the last edition .  

Zebras care taker coach Mogomotsi Mpote  has highlighted that his charges will fight to top the group  “In this group, we must hold our own weight and structure as a team we must  respect our opponents and have no fear for them  . We have two teams that just returned from the 2021 AFCON, we have an idea of who they are or what they are about as a collective and we will now start preparing for them. Libya like us have not been to AFCON but are a very good team they have traditionally been a very difficult customer .Their players play mostly in Europe  which tells you they have quality as a team .”

“We will leave no stone unturned, we have a dynamic team at the moment, the boys I called into the last international window are determined. As a group we need to work together for each other. We are not going to make the numbers, we will impose ourselves and forget African football hierarchy if ever there was such.’’

The 2023 AFCON qualifiers will start in June 2022 with countries playing Match day 1and 2 in the FIFA window, the Zebras will play one match at home and one way in the period.