While Bafana Bafana have friendly games against Eswatini and Cote d'Ivoire during this FIFA calendar date, there is also the TotalEnergies AFCON finals draw before those matches.
Thursday evening is a key date for Hugo Broos as it will determine Bafana's AFCON finals group with the draw taking place in in the Ivorian capital – Abidjan.
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According to CAF, the draw ceremony will be watched in over 50 countries ahead of the tournament that will run from January 13 to February 11, 2024.
For Bafana, their hopes will be on avoiding being drawn into a difficult group with their latest rankings having left them hanging in danger.
CAF will use the latest FIFA rankings – which were released on September 21 – to determine the seedings for the finals with Morocco (13), Senegal (20), Tunisia (29), Algeria (34), Egypt (35), and Nigeria (40) the top ranked teams that will lead each group.
The second pot has Cameroon (41), Mali (49), Cote d'Ivoire (50), Burkina Faso (58), Ghana (60), and DR Congo (64).
In Pot Three, South Africa (65) is joined by Cape Verde (71), Guinea (81), Zambia (82), Equatorial Guinea (92), and Mauritania (99).
Then in the last pot, there is Guinea-Bissau (106), Namibia (114), Mozambique (113), Namibia (114), Angola (117), The Gambia (118), and Tanzania (122).
Teams in each of the four pots cannot meet in the group stages.
This means Bafana's opponents will come from Pot One, Two, and Four.
The top two teams in each of the six groups will be joined by the four third-placed teams in the last 16.
The final of the tournament will be played at the Alassane Outtara Stadium in Abidjan on February 11.
Domestic football will also pause for the AFCON finals with the last matches being played on December 30 before resuming on February 13.
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