CAF will officially set the qualifying process for the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations in motion when it conducts the preliminary round draw on Thursday, beginning at 12:00 GMT live on CAF TV.
The draw will mark the first procedural step toward the next continental finals, which will be jointly hosted by Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania.
The draw will determine the matchups for the preliminary round, a stage reserved for the lowest-ranked nations in the latest FIFA World Rankings.
Twelve teams will compete at this level, while the remaining 42 African nations have already secured direct passage to the group stage of the qualifiers.
The teams involved in the preliminary round are Lesotho, Burundi, Ethiopia, Eswatini, South Sudan, Mauritius, Chad, São Tomé and Príncipe, Djibouti, Somalia, Seychelles and Eritrea.
To ensure balance, CAF has split the sides into two pots based strictly on ranking positions.
Pot 1 contains the six highest-ranked teams, namely Lesotho, Burundi, Ethiopia, Eswatini, South Sudan and Mauritius. Pot 2 features the six lowest-ranked teams, made up of Chad, São Tomé and Príncipe, Djibouti, Somalia, Seychelles and Eritrea.
Under the draw procedure, each team selected from Pot 1 will be paired with a team drawn from Pot 2 until all six ties are formed. The format also stipulates that the lower-ranked team will host the first leg of each two-legged tie, adding a competitive wrinkle to the opening stage.
Once the preliminary round concludes, the six winners will progress to the next phase, joining the 42 highest-ranked nations in the draw for the group stage of the CAF AFCON 2027 Qualifiers, as the race to the finals officially gathers momentum.
