The Confederation of African Football has confirmed AFCON legends Rigobert Song and Emmanuel Amunike as draw assistants at the TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations, Cote d’Ivoire 2023 Preliminary Round Draw on Friday, 21 January 2022 in Douala.

The draw will be conducted at 16h00 local time (15h00 GMT) and will be live on CAF digital platforms.

Friday’s draw will be the first step towards the 34th edition of the TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations, Cote d’Ivoire 2023.

The former Indomitable Lions defender and captain Rigobert Song featured in eight TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations finals (1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008 and 2010) winning the compettition twice in 2000 and 2002 with Cameroon.

Amunike, the former midfielder of Super Eagles won the AFCON in 1994 and was also part of the ‘golden generation’ team that claimed the Olympic gold medal in 1996 with Nigeria.

The Preliminary Round will see the 12 least ranked teams divided into two levels. The six highest ranked teams (of the 12) will play against the six least ranked teams (the first leg will be played at home of the lower ranked teams).

The six aggregate winners will join the 42 highest ranked teams into the Group Stage of the qualifiers.

Level 1: Lesotho, Eswatini, Botswana, Gambia, South Sudan, Mauritius

Level 2: Chad, Sao Tome & Principe, Djibouti, Somalia, Seychelles, Eritrea