The African continent will begin its qualifying campaign for the African Nations Cup in Cameroon in 2021 when the first round starts on Wednesday.
The teams were divided into five levels based on the FIFA classification, which was issued last June, with 44 teams from levels I to IV participating in the group stage directly, while the eight teams were forced , Which joined the fifth level, to play a preliminary role, from which four teams qualified, until the total teams participating in the qualifiers became 48 teams.
The teams participating in the qualifiers were divided into 12 groups, where groups from the first to the fourth one team from each of the first three levels, in addition to a team qualified from the preliminary round, while the rest of the other groups, includes one team from each level of the four teams.
Hosts Cameroon will play in the qualifiers despite having booked a place in the finals regardless of their ranks in their group, and their matches and results will be counted in determining the other teams qualified for their group.
The top two runners-up in each group will qualify if Cameroon finish first or second in their group, and if they finish third or fourth, the top 11 teams in the 12 groups will qualify.
The first two rounds of qualifying will take place during the current international pause, which starts tomorrow and will last until the 19th of this month.
The Arab world is represented by eight teams: Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco, Algeria, Libya, Sudan, Mauritania and Comoros.
Algeria, the reigning champions, begin their qualifying campaign with a heavy-handed match against home champions Zambia in 2012, seeking to return to the finals they missed in the last edition held in Egypt last summer, in Group H, which also includes the teams of Zimbabwe and Botswana.
The Algerian team, who won the titles in 1990 and 2019, wants to achieve a positive result, despite the difficulty of the task ahead of the team "copper bullets", before the team "Greens" to visit Botswana in the second round next Monday.
Tunisia will play Libya in a Group C match against Equatorial Guinea and Tanzania.
Tunisia's new coach Monther El Kabir, who took over from Frenchman Alain Grech, and Tunisia's veteran coach Fawzi Benzarti, who was appointed Libya coach in October, are facing a heated off-line match.
In the second round of the group, the Libyan team will host its Tanzanian counterpart, while the team "Eagles of Carthage," the winner of the title in 2004, away to Equatorial Guinea.
The Moroccan team will face another Arab against Mauritania in Group E, which also includes the teams of Central Africa and Burundi.
This will be the first official confrontation for the Bosnian-born Frenchman, Vahid Halilhodzic, the new coach of Morocco, who took over the "Atlas Lions" in August to replace Frenchman Herve Renard.
While Morocco, who won the title in 1976, play hosts Burundi in the second round, Mauritania, who are looking for their second consecutive appearance in the finals, will host the Central African national team.
Egypt, the record-holder of seven trophies, face an easy test when they host Kenya on Thursday in Group G, which also includes the Comoros and Togo, who meet in the first round in the Togolese capital Lom.
Following his meeting with his Kenyan counterpart, the Egyptian team is preparing to play with hosts Comoros in an Arab confrontation will be the first between the two teams next Monday.
Sudan, the 1970 African champions, host Sao Tome and Principe in the first round, before going out to host South Africa in a perilous showdown for the Hawks of the Jiddans in the second round of Group C, which also includes Ghana.