CAF reveals Afcon qualification system
African football ruling body CAF on Thursday published the qualification system to the third and final round of the 29th Orange Africa Cup of Nations, with a major adjustment meant to leap the constraints of time ahead of the showpiece set for January 2013 in South Africa.
Twenty eight teams are currently participating in the second round of the qualifiers, with the first leg games already played last February 29 and the return leg set for mid June.
Fourteen teams will qualify from the second round and will join the 16 teams that took part in the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations, making a total of 30 teams to vie in the third and final round through the direct knock out system in home and away matches to determine the last 15.
Hosts South Africa will complete the list of the 15 qualified teams to the original 16 for the finals.
In the third and final round of the qualifiers, the 30 teams will be divided into two pots (pot 1 and pot 2) and each pot will comprise 15 teams. A team from pot 1 will play against a team from pot 2 following a drawing of lots which will determine the 15 matches scheduled to be played in September and October 2012.
The drawing of lots will take place in the first week of July 2012.
CAF ranking of the national teams will be used to determine the teams that will go to pot 1 and those to pot 2. The classification will be based on the performance of the teams in the past three editions of the Africa Cup of Nations.
