Ghana Among Top Seeds For 2013 AFCON...Stars To Avoid Zambia & Ivory Coast

Ghana will avoid the big guns in the group stage of the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations in January after Caf seeded the Black Stars for the tournament in South Africa.

The Black Stars will not face Ivory Coast, hosts South Africa and champions Zambia in the group phase as the four countries were named as the top seeds for the competition.

But there is the potential of Ghana meeting arch rivals Nigeria, Morocco and DR Congo in the group stage as these footballing countries were seeded in different pots.

The draw for the tournament will be held on 24 October in Durban.

Teams in the same pot cannot be drawn against each other.

Seeding is based on results from the past three Cup of Nations tournaments in Ghana, Angola and Gabon and Equatorial Guinea, rather than Fifa rankings, and, theoretically, keeps the “big guns” apart.

Ivory Coast are among the top seeds, despite the abandonment of their second-leg tie with Senegal and no news of an official result from Caf.

The Ivorians were 6-2 up on aggregate when Saturday’s game in Dakar was called off because of crowd violence.

Tournament hosts South Africa are also among the top seeds, along with reigning champions Zambia and Ghana.

Cape Verde, who qualified for the first time in their history by pulling off a shock 3-2 aggregate victory over four-time champions Cameroon, are in the fourth pot.

Also among the lowest-ranked teams are 1962 champions Ethiopia, who have qualified for the first time since 1982.

The tournament takes place in South Africa between 19 January and 10 February 2013.

Seedings:

Pot one: South Africa, Zambia, Ghana, Ivory Coast
Pot two: Mali, Tunisia, Angola, Nigeria
Pot three: Algeria, Burkina Faso, Morocco, Niger
Pot four: Togo, Cape Verde, DR Congo, Ethiopia.

Source: Ghanasoccernet.com