Cranes To Face Burkina Faso in 2017 AFCON Qualifiers
Uganda Cranes is to face 2013 AFCON finalists Burkina Faso in Group D of the 2017 AFCON Qualifiers.
The draws held on Wednesday afternoon in Cairo with CAF President Issa Hayatou part of the event also saw Southern Africa side Botswana and Comoros Islands put in the same group with Uganda.
Uganda who were lined up from Pot 2 into Group D are behind Burkina Faso in the peeking order and the draw looks appealing to the Cranes side in their quest to return to the continent ever since the historical 1978 AFCON held in Ghana.
The qualifiers for the 31st edition of the AFCON tournament will begin mid this year in the FIFA international window starting June 8 to 16.
The tournament for the first time will see the host country (Gabon) participate in the qualification stages however, the matches concerned will not count for any points in their group, and will instead be classified as friendlies.
Group winners and two best second placed teams will join hosts, Gabon for the final tournament.
The 13 Groups are as below;
Group A: Tunisia, Togo, Liberia, Djibouti
Group B: Madagascar, DRC, Angola, CAR
Group C: Mali, Equatorial Guinea, Benin, South Sudan
Group D: Burkina Faso, Uganda, Botswana, Comoros
Group E: Zambia, Congo, Kenya, Guinea Bissau
Group F: Cape Verde, Morocco, Libya, Sao Tome
Group G: Nigeria, Egypt, Tanzania, Chad
Group H: Ghana, Mozambique, Rwanda, Mauritius
Group I: Ivory Coast, Sudan, Sierra Leone, Gabon
Group J: Algeria, Ethiopia, Lesotho, Seychelles
Group K: Senegal, Niger, Nambia, Burundi
Group L: Guinea, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Swaziland
Group M: Cameroon, South Africa, Gambia, Mauritania