Bafana Bafana have been drawn in Group C of the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers following the conclusion of the draw in Cairo.
The South African national team will have been seeded against powerhouse Ghana as well as Sudan, while the fourth team in the group will come from the winners of a preliminary clash between Mauritius and Sao Tome e Principe.
The group phase of the qualifiers will be preceded by a preliminary round involving eight teams determined by the last Fifa Rankings. After that, the winners of the four matches will head into the group phase.
The preliminary stages are set to take place in October this year between 7 and 15 October and will be played on a home and away basis.
The 48 remaining teams have been divided into 12 groups of four teams each and the top two sides from each group will earn a ticket to the 2021 showpiece in Cameroon.
The first round of qualifiers will take place on the week of 11–19 November 2019 where they will play two matches.
The teams will take a nine month break from the 2021 Afcon qualifiers and resume the third and fourth round of matches on the week of 31 August to 8 September 2020 where they will also play two back to back fixtures.
The penultimate round of qualifiers will take place the following month on the week of 5–13 October 2020.
The final match in the qualifiers is on the week of 9–17 November 2020.
Take a look at thr draw in full:
Group A: Mali, Guinea, Namibia, Liberia/Chad
Group B: Burkina Faso, Uganda, Malawi, South Sudan/Seychelles
Group C: Ghana, South Africa, Sudan, Mauritius/Sao Tome Principe
Group D: Congo DR, Gabon, Angola, Djibouti/Gambia,
Group E: Morocco, Central Africa, Burundi, Mauritania
Group F: Cameroon, Mozambique, Rwanda, Cape Verde
Group G: Egypt, Kenya, Togo, Comoros Islands
Group H: Algeria, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Zambia
Group I: Senegal, Congo, Guinea-Bissau, Eswatini
Group J: Tunisia, Libya, Tanzania, Equatorial Guinea
Group K: Cote d’Ivoire, Ethiopa, Niger, Madagascar
Group L: Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Benin, Lesotho
