Warriors 2025 Afcon draw done, Tapera other coaches speak out

Fungai Muderere

THE country’s flagship football side, the Warriors were on Thursday drawn into Group J of the 2025 of the Total Energies CAF Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) qualifiers together with Cameroon, Kenya and Namibia. The draw function was conducted in Johannesburg, South Africa.

The Warriors were seeded in Pot Four and the qualifiers are scheduled to kick-off in September 2024. The group winners and first runners-up in the eleven groups that do not involve tournament hosts Morocco, will gain qualification to the competition. Interim Warriors head coach Jairos Tapera welcomed the draw saying there is a need to make adequate preparations before the qualifiers begin in September this year.

“It’s a fairly good draw, it all depends on having enough time to prepare. That’s the basis of everything. Given the opportunity we will have to start today. With regards to who will be picked, all I can say is that everyone will be considered because it’s a national team,” said Tapera.

Chicken Inn assistant coach Fungai “Tostao” Kwashi echoed Tapera’s sentiments. “All groups are tough, we need to prepare starting from now. We need to start planning for friendly matches. We should start playing friendly games as soon as possible. Our biggest challenge has been failing to plan professionally. Things should be done in advance. Players need to gel.

We have two and half months to capitalise on and make sure we have a strong team to represent us. We should not prepare to fail,” said the outspoken Kwashi. Bulaayo Chiefs head coach Thulani “Thuts” Sibanda also sang the same tune. “It’s an easy draw. Given enough time to prepare, the boys will make us happy.

We will need to push a draw against Cameroon away from home. The players need to assemble in time. We should also capitalise on the international breaks,” said Sibanda. Zimbabwe will be making a return to the qualifiers after missing the battles for a place in Cote d’Ivoire as the country served a FIFA suspension.

The Warriors last featured at the 2021 AFCON finals in Cameroon. As was the case for the last qualifiers, a total of 48 countries, including hosts Morocco, were drawn into 12 groups of four teams each. The 48 teams were seeded, according to the latest Fifa rankings, and were in four different pots.

The top 12 teams were in pot one, the next 12 in the second pot and so on, and one team from each of the pots went into a group. The qualifiers for Morocco will kick off in September and be completed by November with two matches in each of the international windows in September, October and November.

The top two in each group qualifies except the group in which Morocco will play where only one team besides the host advances to the finals tournament. The three month window for the qualifiers are the quickest they have ever been conducted but dates for next year are reserved for the preliminaries for the 2026 World Cup in North America.

The 2025 Cup of Nations finals were recently put back six months by the Confederation of African Football and will now be played from December 21, 2025 to January 18, 2026. The tournament was supposed to take place in mid-2025 but has been shifted because of Fifa’s new expanded Club World Cup with 32 teams in the United States next June and July.

Moving the 2025 finals to a December kick off, rather than January 2026, also avoids a clash with the expanded Champions League in Europe Fresh from the thrills and successes of the TotalEnergies CAF Africa Cup of Nations Cote d’Ivoire 2023 where the host nation defied all odds to claim their third title, a line-up of intriguing matches is expected for the journey to the 35th edition of the showpiece continental sporting event.

In attendance will be selected CAF legends, representatives of the participating teams, members of the Local Organising Committee for TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations Morocco 2025 amongst others.

2025 Afcon Full Draw

Group A: Tunisia, Madagascar, Comoros, Gambia.

Group B: Morocco, Gabon, Central Africa Republic, Lesotho.

Group C: Egypt, Cape Verde, Mauritania, Botswana.

Group D: Nigeria, Benin, Libya, Rwanda.

Group E: Algeria, Equatorial Guinea, Togo, Liberia.

Group F: Ghana, Angola, Sudan, Niger.

Group G: Ivory Coast, Zambia, Sierra Leone, Chad.

Group H: DRC, Guinea, Tanzania, Ethiopia.

Group I: Mali, Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau, Eswatini

. Group J: Cameroon, Namibia, Kenya, Zimbabwe

Group K: South Africa, Uganda, Congo, South Sudan.