Last time Nigeria and Sierra Leone clashed over two legs the West African teams shared the spoils, including an epic 8-goal thriller in Benin City in the qualifiers for the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations.
The most prestigious Sport event in Africa returns in 2023 and the draw for the competition held, Tuesday, in Morocco.
Nigeria and Sierra Leone were again pitted. They will also face Guinea Bissau and Sao Tome in group A of the 2023 AFCON qualifying campaign.
The three-time African champions will be considered strong favorites to pick one of two tickets from the group, while Sierra Leone and Guinea Bissau will also fancy their chances, having competed at the last tournament in Cameroon.
Sao Tome are the outsiders and the small island nation with a population of just over 1million will gladly embrace the dark horse tag.
While Nigeria enjoys a marginal head to head advantage over the Leone Stars and Guinea Bissau whom they beat 3-1 in the group stage of the 2021 AFCON, the Super Eagles and Sao Tome have no previous meeting between them in international football.
Meanwhile, the other draw outcomes pits holders Senegal against Benin, Mozambique and Rwanda in group L.
Runner up at the last tournament, Egypt are drawn in Group D and will face Guinea, Malawi and Ethiopia.
🔢 = ✅
Here are the full #TotalEnergiesAFCONQ2023 groups 👇
Who will reach the final tournament? 🤔 pic.twitter.com/SpWgkqt9TE
— CAF (@CAF_Online) April 19, 2022
Full result of draw for 2023 AFCON Qualifiers:
Group A: Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Guinea Bissau, Sao Tome
Group B: Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Togo, Eswatini
Group C: Cameroon, Kenya, Namibia, Burundi
Group D: Egypt, Guinea, Malawi, Ethiopia
Group E: Ghana, Madagascar, Angola, CAR
Group F: Algeria, Uganda, Niger, Tanzania
Group G: Mali, Congo, Gambia, South Sudan
Group H: Cote D’Ivoire, Zambia, Comoros, Lesotho
Group I: DR Congo, Gabon, Mauritania, Sudan
Group J: Tunisia, Equatorial Guinea, Libya, Botswana
Group K: Morocco, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Liberia
Group L: Senegal, Benin, Mozambique, Rwanda
