After months of anticipation, teams which qualified for the upcoming TotalEnergies African Nations Championship (CHAN) now know their fate.
Kenya has been pooled with African giants Morocco in Group A.
Harambee Stars will also face heavyweights Angola, DR Congo and Zambia in the so-called “group of death.”
The draw ceremony was conducted Wednesday night at Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC) in Nairobi.
Let’s look at how these draws are conducted and the factors determining which teams are placed together.
The seeding process
The draw process begins with seeding where teams are placed into different "pots" based on their past performance in previous editions of the tournament.
In this case, teams are seeded according to their results in the last three editions of CHAN (2018, 2020, and 2022).
This system ensures that the top-performing teams from previous tournaments are spread out across the groups to maintain balance and fairness.
The structured draw process is used to assign teams into groups or match-ups for the initial stages of the competition.
Host country advantage is also considered in the process.
This is to ensure they play in familiar territories and also balance out the strength of the groups. Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania, as the host nations were automatically seeded as A1, B1, and C1, respectively.
A total of 17 countries that have already qualified including the hosts entered the draw.
They are Morocco, Guinea, Senegal, Mauritania, Niger, Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan, Congo, Zambia, Angola, and Madagascar.
Two more teams will be confirmed for the finals to complete the lineup.
Pot groupings
Pot 1 typically contained the highest-ranked teams, and in the case of CHAN, it featured Morocco and the reigning champions Senegal.
Pot 2 consisted of other strong teams such as Guinea, Zambia, Madagascar, Rwanda, and Sudan, which were also recognised for their solid performances in previous tournaments.
Pot 3 included a mix of teams with varying degrees of experience and they included Mauritania, Niger, Democratic Republic of Congo, Congo, Angola, Burkina Faso, Nigeria and Central African Republic.
Why is the draw ceremony necessary?
The draw process is designed to prevent teams from the same region or qualification group from being placed in the same group.
As a tradition, football legends are invited to witness and or conduct the draw during such ceremonies.
During the CHAN draw at KICC, three African football legends-McDonald Mariga (Kenya), Hassan Wasswa (Uganda), and Mrisho Ngasa (Tanzania) were present.
It is also applicable in major tournaments such as the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON).
FIFA World Cup
In the case of the FIFA World Cup, the procedures approved by the Organising Committee for FIFA Competitions outline that the 28 already qualified teams are placed in pots according to sporting principles pots 1 to 4.
This is based on the FIFA men’s World Ranking following the conclusion of the latest international match window. The seven highest-ranked qualified teams from the FIFA Men’s World Ranking are put in Pot 1.
Countries occupying positions 8-15 in the ranking of the qualified teams are allocated to Pot 2, while the 16th-23rd best-ranked qualifiers are placed in Pot 3.
Pot 4 includes the qualified teams in positions 24 to 28, plus three placeholders representing the two winners of the Intercontinental playoffs and the remaining UEFA playoff winner.
The draw process begins with Pot 1 and ends with Pot 4.
Each pot is completely emptied before moving on to the subsequent one.
As per the standard draw procedure, a ball from a team pot will be drawn, followed by a ball from one of the group pots, thus determining the position in which the team will play.
