A heavyweight quartet of Africa’s biggest current and former football superstars, Didier Drogba, Mikel Obi, Sadio Mane and Achraf Hakimi, will support the Confederation of African Football (CAF) as Draw Assistants for the Final Draw of the Africa Cup of Nations Cote d’Ivoire 2023.
The Final Draw will take place at the breathtaking, brand-new Parc des Expositions venue in Abidjan this evening, as the build-up to the 34th edition of the biggest event on African soil reaches fever pitch.
The draw will start at 7pm local time/GMT 6pm in Nigeria (21h00 CAT, 22h00 Cairo) and will be live on CAF TV (YouTube).
The Final Draw will be beamed in over 50 countries, with millions of viewers expected to tune in to the event on CAF’s Official YouTube channel, as well as across CAF’s Global TV partners.
Ivorian icon Drogba, Cote d’Ivoire’s all-time top goal scorer with 65 goals in 105 internationals – including the country’s first-ever goal in the FIFA World Cup in 2006 – is the popular hometown hero amongst the stellar Draw Assistants. Drogba scored 11 goals in 24 AFCON games for the Elephants and helped Cote d’Ivoire to two AFCON cup finals in 2006 and 2012.
His former Chelsea teammate Mikel, a 2013 Africa Cup of Nations winner with Nigeria and also a three-time AFCON bronze medallist with the Super Eagles, is another big name who will grace the occasion.
The irrepressible Sadio Mane, who scored the winning penalty as Senegal won their first Africa Cup of Nations title in Cameroon in 2021, is a revered two-time CAF African Player of the Year who will grace the Final Draw stage in Abidjan. Mane is Senegal’s all-time leading scorer with 38 international goals and has scored eight goals in 18 AFCON games for the Teranga Lions.
Paris Saint Germain right back Hakimi, who was part of the Morocco team that made a historic run to the 2022 FIFA World Cup semi-final, adds North African star quality to the list of Draw Assistants.
Delegations and the coaches from each of the 24 participating nations, CAF legends, international media, CAF commercial partners, showbiz celebrities and African leaders will be in attendance for the much-anticipated Final Draw, which will well and truly kick-start the final stretch to what is shaping up to the best AFCON ever.
The Qualified Nations for the Final Draw:
Cote d’Ivoire (hosts), Algeria, Angola, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Congo DR, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, Tunisia and Zambia
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