Johannesburg to host 2013 African Nations Cup qualifying draw next month

By David Gold

June 25 – The Confederation of African Football (CAF) and the board of the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations have confirmed the final qualifying round draw for the tournament will take place in Johannesburg on July 5.

The event will take place at the Tanz Cafe-Emperors Palace, in which 30 countries will be paired off as qualifying for the tournament in South Africa next January takes shape.

The big absentee from the final round could be Egypt, who trail 3-2 after the first leg of their qualifying tie with the Central African Republic last week – the only first round clash yet to be completed.

Egypt have had their qualifying significantly disrupted by the Port Said disaster (pictured below) in February, where dozens were killed in violence following a game between Al-Masry and Al-Ahly, which led to the suspension of football in the country.

The winners of the 2006, 2008 and 2010 African Cup of Nations are also preparing for this summer’s Olympic Games, and may have their eyes set on London rather than South Africa next year.

Those nations battling to reach South Africa will include the defending champions Zambia, surprise winners of this year’s tournament in Equatorial Guinea and Gabon.

Both of those nations are also in contention, as are other heavyweights such as previous winners Tunisia, Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon and Algeria.

The Ivory Coast, winners in 1992, will also hope that their golden generation can finally deliver another African Cup of Nations for the first time in two decades.

They lost in this year’s final to Zambia on penalties, six years after losing to Egypt in the same fashion.

They will discover their fate along with the other 29 nations going into the draw next month, and the two legged ties will take place on the weekends of September 7-9 and October 12-14.

Nations will be seeded prior to the draw, which means it is unlikely that as many big nations will miss out as for this year’s tournament.

Qualifying for Equatorial Guinea and Gabon was conducted via a group stage in which the likes of South Africa, Cameroon, Nigeria and Egypt were eliminated.

It has also been confirmed that the municipality of eThekwini in Durban will host the draw for the 2013 group stages on October 26.

South Africa is hosting the tournament for the first time since 1996.

The hosts of the 2010 World Cup were, like 16 years ago, second choice to stage the 2013 event.

Libya (pictured above) were due to hold next year’s tournament, but had to hand over to South Africa due to the conflict which split the North African country last year.

Libya will now host the 2017 event, initially due to be held by South Africa.

Similarly, South Africa took over in 1996 when Kenya, originally given the tournament, had to withdraw.

“It’s now all systems go,” said South Africa 2013 chief executive Mvuzo Mbebe.

“Once the final qualifying draw has been conducted, the real countdown will commence.

“We are entering the final home stretch as far as preparations for the AFCON 2013 are concerned.”

A CAF delegation is also due to make a final inspection of host cities between July 3 and 9.

In May it was announced that Johannesburg, Nelspruit, Rustenburg, Port Elizabeth and Durban would host games during the tournament, which runs from January 19 to February 10 next year.

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