The draw for next year's Africa Cup of Nations, which Egypt will miss, has been made The draw for the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations was conducted without the familiar faces of Nigeria, Cameroon, Algeria and of course, three-time defending champion Egypt, all replaced by several new but deeply determined squads. The ceremony, in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, one of the host nations, was attended by the two presidents of the host countries, Ali Bongo of Gabon and Teodoro Obiang Nguema of Equatorial Guinea. They were the top dignitaries along with CAF President Issa Hayatou. The three-week tournament will take place in Libreville and Franceville in Gabon and Bata and Malabo in Equatorial Guinea. Group A teams will based in Bata, Group B in Malabo, Group C Libreville and Group D in Franceville. Group A: Equatorial Guinea, Libya, Senegal, Zambia Group B: Cote d'Ivoire, Sudan, Burkina Faso, Angola Group C: Gabon, Niger, Morocco. Tunisia Group D: Ghana, Botswana, Mali, Guinea Head coach of Equatorial Guinea Henri Michel reckons a tough outing for the co-hosts after being paired in Group A alongside Senegal, Libya and Zambia. "Whatever the draw, all the teams will be above us. Every game will be like attacking the Everest. This shows the difficulty of the task. For us, it is almost insurmountable. If we succeed it will be a major feat. We will try to look good." Michel took France to third place in the 1986 World Cup and up until last year, coached the Egyptian club Zamalek. Michel Dussuyer, coach of Guinea, was quoted saying, "This is a difficult group with Ghana, of course. Ghana needs no introduction after their exploits at the World Cup. "Botswana has qualified for the first time. For Mali, we know the talent and potential of individual players at the highest level. There is no affordable 'chicken'. All the 'chickens' are difficult. Gernot Rohr, Gabon coach, told cafonline, "It's a tough draw because we are with Morocco and Tunisia, which are formidable teams, not to mention the Niger. We all have to be aware of Niger, who eliminated Egypt, the defending champion, and South Africa. Tunisia and Morocco have changed in the last two years. A number of Moroccan and Tunisian players are in major championships and they will be among the favourites." "It will not be easy," Tunisia coach Sami Trabelsi said. "There are some tough games and good teams in the group and there are always surprises, too, at ACN finals." Paulo Duarte, head coach of Burkina Faso: "This is a group which can best be described as having a strong candidate, Côte d'Ivoire and three other teams. Cote d'Ivoire has great players playing at top clubs in Europe but it will not be easy for them because we have a great team, and on the field everything is possible." Meanwhile, the procedures for the 2013 ACN qualifiers will be as follows: 47 engaged countries. South Africa, the host country, has automatically qualified which makes 46 teams involved. The 16 teams that qualified to 2012 will get an automatic bye from the first two rounds and enter directly in the final round of qualifiers that begins after the 2012 tournament. Thirty countries will take part in the qualifiers from the start. This will be the first time the ACN is played back to back, the reason being the African federation would like the tournament to be played in odd number years, thus avoiding years in which World Cups are also played. Thus, the next championship after 2013 will be in 2015.
