Nigeria, three-time champions and five-time runners-up, are expected to know their opponents for the qualification race of the 35th Africa Cup of Nations finals on Thursday.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the draw for the 2025 AFCON will be conducted in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Ademola Olajire, Director of Communications at the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), stated this in a statement on Tuesday in Abuja.

The draw will be held inside the SuperSport studio in South Africa’s commercial and economic capital.

It will feature 48 countries divided into 12 groups of four teams each, with the top two teams from eleven groups qualifying directly for the finals scheduled from December 21, 2025, to January 18, 2026.

In the 12th group, which includes the host nation, Morocco, Morocco will automatically qualify for the finals regardless of their finishing position, alongside one other team from the group.

The qualifying matches will be played over the FIFA windows of September, October, and November this year.

All of Nigeria’s opponents in the ongoing 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifying race—Benin Republic, Lesotho, Rwanda, South Africa, and Zimbabwe—are all in Thursday’s draw.

ALL THE 48 TEAMS IN THE DRAW:

POT 1: Morocco, Senegal, Egypt, Cote d’Ivoire, Nigeria, Tunisia, Algeria, Cameroon, Mali, South Africa, DR Congo, Ghana

POT 2: Cape Verde, Burkina Faso, Guinea, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Zambia, Benin Republic, Angola, Uganda, Namibia, Mozambique, Madagascar

POT 3: Kenya, Mauritania, Congo, Tanzania, Guinea Bissau, Libya, Comoros, Togo, Sudan, Sierra Leone, Malawi, Central African Republic

POT 4: Niger Republic, Zimbabwe, Rwanda, The Gambia, Burundi, Liberia, Ethiopia, Botswana, Lesotho, Eswatini, South Sudan, Chad. (NAN)