By Milcah Tanimu

The preliminary draw for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) is scheduled to take place today at the Confederation of African Football (CAF) headquarters in Cairo, Egypt. CAF announced this in an official statement released by its Communication Department.

The draw for the TotalEnergies CAF AFCON, Morocco 2025 preliminary round, will follow the conclusion of the 34th edition of the competition. The draw is set to be conducted at 14:00 local time (12:00 GMT).

According to CAF, the preliminary round will involve the eight lowest-ranked teams based on the FIFA ranking. The matches are slated to be played on a home-and-away basis during the FIFA Window from March 18 to March 26.

The four winners from the preliminary round will join the 44 exempted teams for the group stage of the competition.

The just-concluded 2023 AFCON, hosted in Côte d’Ivoire, was won by the host team, the Elephants, who secured victory over the Super Eagles of Nigeria with a 2-1 scoreline in the tournament’s final.