Sierra Leone senior national team players will  lock horns with Nigeria in the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers.

Sierra Leone have been drawn in Group A with Nigeria, Guinea Bissau, Sao Tome, and Principe in the race for a place at the#Total Energies AFCON 2023.

Leone Star’s coach, John Keister represented Sierra Leone in the  AFCON draw which took place in  South Africa.

Leone Stars will slug it out in the Qualifiers alongside 3 times African Champions #Super Eagles, both teams played to a dramatic 4-4 draw at the AFCON 2021 qualifiers in Nigeria.

As the draw for the Total Energies Africa Cup of Nations, Cote d’Ivoire 2023 group stages concluded, the Confederation of African Football (CAF) has released the various groups ahead of the qualifiers which commences  in May.

The 48 countries qualified to participate in the second round of the qualifiers were seeded into four pots based on the official FIFA ranking released on 31 March 2022.

The teams were then drawn into 12 groups of four teams (Group A to L) with the top two teams from each group qualifying for the tournament to be played in the West African country.

Hosts Cote d’Ivoire also participated in the draw even though they have already secured their place in the tournament which means only one other team from their group will qualify for the competition.

Kenya and Zimbabwe, who have been suspended by FIFA from all football activities globally, were also included in the draw despite their temporary bans.

However, if the suspension is not lifted two weeks before their first match day of the qualifiers, both associations will be considered losers and eliminated from the competition.

Consequently, their groups are composed of three teams with the first and runner-up teams of those groups qualifying for the final tournament.

As a result of that decision, Kenya and Zimbabwe were drawn into the same group to avoid having one group with only two teams in case the suspension on both associations is not lifted.

The draw was conducted by the CAF Director of Competitions Samson Adamu and assisted by African football legends Lucas Radebe of South Africa and Ivorian Solomon Kalou,