South Africa to host AFCON draw

South Africa will host the draw for the qualifying campaign for the next African Cup of Nations, the Confederation of African Football has confirmed.

According to supersport.com on Thursday, the  draw will be made in Cape Town on January 31. Nigeria are defending champions.

It will be during the hosting of the African Nations Championship, which South Africa is putting on in Bloemfontein, Cape Town and Polokwane early next year.

The next Africa Cup of Nations  is in Morocco in 2015 and the qualifying campaign will be played over a tight schedule of five months from July to November next year.

Depending on the number of entries, there will be a preliminary round over two legs in July and August before the group play begins in September.

CAF is to fit six rounds of qualifying group matches between September and November with two matches in each international window, presumably on a Friday and the following Tuesday, following the example recently established by Europe.

There are no dates before the World Cup in Brazil to start the process earlier.