Egypt’s Nader El Sayed and Côte d’Ivoire’s Abdoulaye Meite have been confirmed as Draw Assistants for Tuesday’s TotalEnergies CAF Under-23 Africa Cup of Nations Egypt 2027 Qualifiers Draw in Cairo.
The draw gets under way at 15:00 Cairo time (12:00 GMT) and will be streamed live on CAF TV.
El Sayed, regarded as one of Egypt’s finest goalkeepers, won more than 100 caps for the Pharaohs after coming through the Under-17 and Under-20 ranks. He was first-choice keeper when Egypt won the Africa Cup of Nations in Burkina Faso in 1998, and went on to play for Zamalek, Club Brugge and Al Masry, with a brief spell at Al Ahly.
Meite was part of a celebrated generation of Ivorian players and played at the 2006 World Cup in Germany. He also featured in the Elephants’ side that lost the 2006 Nations Cup final on penalties to hosts Egypt. The defender later had spells in England and France with Bolton Wanderers, West Bromwich Albion and Marseille.
Forty-three nations are involved in the 2027 tournament, with hosts Egypt already through to the finals. The remaining 42 sides will contest three rounds of qualifying, home and away, for seven places at the finals.
Twenty-eight teams will start in the first round, with 14 higher-ranked nations – based on performances in the previous three editions – entering at the second-round stage. The seven third-round winners will join Egypt at the finals.
The competing nations are: Algeria, Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Comoros, Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Djibouti, DR Congo, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Morocco, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, São Tomé and Príncipe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, South Africa, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Tags: CAF, TotalEnergies CAF U-23 AFCON, Egypt 2027, Nader El Sayed, Abdoulaye Meite, Africa Cup of Nations, Under-23 football, Cairo draw, Egypt football, Côte d’Ivoire football, African football qualifiers, CAF TV
