AFCON 2015 qualifiers: No prelims for Ghana

Ghana’s Black Stars and most of the teams that participated in the 2013 African Cup of Nations (AFCON) have been spared the ordeal of playing in the preliminary round of the 2015 tournament as the qualifying schedule was released last Wednesday.

According to the schedule released by the Confederation of African Football (CAF), 30 out of the record 51 nations that entered for the AFCON 2015  will play in  the preliminary rounds  to decide seven countries that will advance to the group stages.

The  seven will then join 21 nations who automatically qualify and be split into seven groups, with the top two in each pool and the best third-placed country qualifying for the finals along with hosts Morocco.

A ranking system based on the past three Nations Cups and 2014 World Cup qualifying determined the 21 nations who automatically qualified for the group phase.

The preliminary rounds of the qualifying process will be played from May to August, with the final phase taking place from September 5 until  November 26.

The draw has been moved once again and will now take place on  April 27  in Cairo, Egypt, and not in Morocco as previously announced.
CAF also announced that six countries  -- Algeria, Cameroun, Cote d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Guinea, and Zambia  -- have bid to host  the 2019 Nations Cup.

Three others,  Algeria, Cote d’Ivoire and Guinea have bid for the 2021 edition.

Libya are still due to host the 2017 finals, having swapped with South Africa,  who held the event in 2013.

The decision on who hosts  the 2019 and 2021 tournaments will be made at the CAF executive meeting later in September.