Uganda Kobs will join the fray of the 2023 TotalEnergies U23 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers in the second round after being exempted from the first round draw.
The Confederation of African Football (Caf) announced the draw for the qualifiers of the competition due in Morocco next year will take place on Thursday 18 August 2022.
Uganda is one of the 18 nations that will not play in the first round where the top 20 ranked nations from the continent.
“The TotalEnergies U23 Africa Cup of Nations, Morocco 2023 scheduled in June 2023 in Morocco and will serve as qualifying tournament to the Summer Olympics #Paris2024,” Caf confirmed in a statement.
“39 Member Associations are engaged in African qualifiers. Morocco are automatically qualified as hosts to the final tournament. The remaining 38 teams will play the qualifiers.”
Qualifiers Schedule:
First Round (Home and Away): 19 to 27 September 2022
Second Round (First Leg/Second Leg): 21 – 23 October 2022/28-30 October 2022
Third Round (First Leg/Second Leg): 20 to 28 March 2023
Procedures of the drawing of lots of the qualifiers of the U23 Africa Cup of Nations
Format:
– 1st round: the 20 least ranked teams will play the 1st round (knock out from home & away matches) qualifying 10 teams to the 2nd round.
– 2nd round: The 10 teams qualified from the 1st round + the 18 exempted from the 1st round will play the 2nd round (knock out from home & away *matches) qualifying 14 teams to the 3rd round.
– 3rd round: The 14 teams qualified from the 2nd round will play the 3rd round (knock out from home & away matches) qualifying 7 teams to the final tournament in addition to the host country Morocco.
First Round (19 – 27 September 2022)
The participating teams in the 1st round (20 teams):
1 team from UNAF: Libya
3 teams from WAFU A: Gambia, Guinea Bissau & Mauritania
3 teams from WAFU B: Burkina Faso, Niger & Togo
1 team from UNIFFAC: RD Congo
5 teams from CECAFA: Djibouti, Ethiopia, Rwanda, South Sudan & Tanzania
7 teams from COSAFA: Angola, Botswana, Eswatini, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique & Namibia
Teams exempted according to the ranking (18 teams):
UNAF: Algeria, Egypt & Tunisia
WAFU A: Guinea, Mali, Senegal & S. Leone
WAFU B: Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana & Nigeria
CECAFA: Sudan & Uganda
UNIFFAC: Cameroon, Congo & Gabon
COSAFA: South Africa & Zambia