Nigeria’s Super Eagles will play hosts Côte D’Ivoire in the group stage of the 34th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations after being drawn in Group A alongside Equatorial Guinea and Guinea-Bissau.

The draws for the 2023 AFCON, which will be held from January 13 to February 11, 2024, were made in Côte D’Ivoire on Thursday, with all the participating 24 countries drawn in six groups (A-F), consisting of four teams each.

In Group A, Nigeria and Côte D’Ivoire will face each other in arguably what would be the biggest group stage match at the AFCON. Both nations have five titles between themselves – the Super Eagles are three-time winners, while the Elephants have won it twice.

Joining the two continental giants in the group are Equatorial Guinea and Guinea-Bissau. 

Nigeria and Guinea-Bissau were in the same group in the qualifiers, and might be tricky for Eagles after they surprisingly lost to the Wild Dogs in Abuja and failed to perform convincingly in the return leg.

Seven-time champions Egypt, Ghana, Cape Verde and Mozambique were drawn in Group B, while defending champions Senegal, Cameroon, Guinea, and the Gambia will tango one another in Group C.

Group D contains Algeria, Burkina Faso, Mauritania and Angola, while Tunisia, Mali, South Africa and Namibia are in Group E. Lastly, Morocco, DR Congo, Zambia and Tanzania occupy Group F.

The opening match will be between hosts Côte D’Ivoire and Guinea-Bissau, as Nigerian musician Yemi Alade is billed to perform on the day.