Zimbabwe paired with Algeria, Tunisia, Senegal in Group B: 2017 Africa Cup of Nations
Zimbabwe, the only representatives from the Confederation of Southern Football Association (Cosafa) at the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) edition to be held in Gabon, have been grouped in Group B together with North Africans — Algeria, Tunisia and West Africans, Senegal.
The 2017 Afcon edition will be held from 14 January to 5 February in the Gabonese cities of Libreville, Franceville, Oyem-Bitam and Port-Gentil and the hosts are in Group A together with Burkina Faso, Cameroun and Guinea Bissau.
The defending champions Cote d’Ivoire are in Group C with DRC, Morocco and Togo while Group D has Ghana, Mali, Egypt and Uganda.
Zimbabwe were in the qualifying Group L together with Guinea and fellow Cosafa members, Swaziland and Malawi.
The other Cosafa members who have failed to qualify are 2012 Nations Cup winners Zambia, Angola, Madagascar, Botswana, Mauritius, Mozambique, Seychelles, Lesotho, Namibia and South Africa.
South Africa were champions in 1996 when they hosted but since then they have failed to re-claim the title despite hosting the event again in 2013.
Nigeria, champions in 2013 finals in South Africa, will not be participating in this edition.
The 2015 losing finalists Ghana against Cote d’Ivoire have also qualified.
The draw for the Gabon finals was held on Wednesday and the seeded teams were Gabon, Tunisia, Cameroon and Togo.
The teams were seeded taking into account the performance of the qualified teams during the following competitions — the Afcon final tournaments of 2012, 2013, 2015, Afcon qualifiers of 2013, 2015, 2017, the FIFA World Cup finals of 2014 and the FIFA World Cup qualifiers of 2014.
According to Caf media channel, the formula adopted for each of the Afcon final tournament was eight points for the winner, six for runner-up, four for semi-finalists, three for quarter-finalists, two for third in the group and one for fourth in the group.
It was also decided to give more importance to the recent editions of the Afcon; 2015 multiplied by a co-efficient of 3, 2013 by 2 and 1 for 2012. Uganda, Zimbabwe, Guinea Bissau.
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