The preliminary draw for the 34th edition of the TotalEnergies CAF Africa Cup of Nations, which is scheduled to take place in Morocco, was held at the CAF Headquarters in Cairo, Egypt on Tuesday.

The Africa Cup of Nations Morocco 2025 qualifiers will feature 52 countries in total.

In the first round of the qualifiers, the eight (8) lowest-ranked countries in the FIFA Rankings will play each other in a home-and-away knockout format. The four (4) remaining teams will then have the opportunity to advance to the group stages of the qualifiers, where they will face 44 other countries.

The four lowest-ranked countries will play their first leg of the qualifiers at home, with the higher-ranked team hosting the second leg.

The qualifiers’ home and away games are set for the upcoming FIFA International Break, which runs from March 20 to 26, 2024.

Following the completion of the preliminary stages, CAF will shortly make public the official draw for the qualifying tournament’s group stages.