How Super Eagles Become the ‘Top Seed’ for AFCON 2015 Qualifiers

Champions Nigeria will be the top seed for the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying series, according to the Confederation of African Football.

The top ranking was summed up based on a points system from recent AFCONs, the 2013 AFCON, as well as the Super Eagles’ performance in the qualifying tournament for the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil.

Other top seeds for the qualifying tournament for the 2015 AFCON include Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Mali and Zambia.

The 2015 AFCON will be hosted by Morocco in four cities from January 15 to February 7.

The draw for the qualifiers is scheduled for April 27 in Cairo, Egypt.

Meanwhile, CAF will decide on the hosts for the 2019 and 2021 AFCONs in September.

Algeria has tabled a formal bid for both tournaments.

According to MTNFootball, the other countries vying to stage the biennial tournament are Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, Guinea, DR Congo, Zambia (2019 AFCON) and Cote d’Ivoire and Guinea (2021 AFCON).

Also, the Flying Eagles had been drawn bye to the second round of the 2015 African Youth Championship to be hosted by Senegal.

The six-time African champions will begin the qualifying tournament in May against the winners of the first round match between Kenya and Tanzania.

Should the Nigeria U-20 team qualify for the third and final round, the team will face the winners of the second round between Angola and the winners of the first round clash involving Swaziland and Lesotho.

This final qualifier is scheduled for August.

World Cup-winning Nigeria U-17 coach, Manu Garba, has been promoted to lead the Flying Eagles, which is expected to be made up of the bulk of the Golden Eaglets from 2013.

Nigeria placed third at the 2013 AYC after winning a record sixth continental title two years earlier in South Africa.

Senegal will stage the 20th AYC between March 8 and 22 with the four top placed teams qualifying for the 2015 FIFA U-20 World Cup in New Zealand.