African Nations Cup seeds named

Seedings for 2002 African Nations Cup in Mali:
First - Mali (hosts), Cameroon (holders), Egypt, South Africa
Second - Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Nigeria, Tunisia
Third - Algeria, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Zambia
Fourth - Liberia, Morocco, Senegal, Togo

Draw for finals will be made on September 8 in Bamako

JOHANNESBURG, Aug 15 (Reuters) - Cameroon, Mali, Egypt and South Africa have been seeded for next year's African Nations Cup finals, the Confederation of African Football said in Cairo on Wednesday. Defending champions Cameroon and hosts Mali were automatically seeded and will each head one of the four groups, with Mali based in the capital Bamako.

The other two seeds were decided by performances in the last three African Nations Cup finals.

South Africa won the tournament in 1996, finished runners-up in 1998 and third last year, while Egypt were winners in 1998.

Nigeria, second in 2000 and recent qualifiers for the World Cup finals, are among the four teams in the second tier of the draw, which will be made in Bamako on September 8.

They are joined by the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana and Tunisia.
The third tier consists of Algeria, Burkina Faso, the Ivory Coast and Zambia, while the last tier includes Morocco, Liberia, Togo and Senegal, who have also qualified for the World Cup finals.
One team from each tier will be drawn into each of the four groups for the finals, which start on January 19.
The first two teams from each of group will progress to the quarter-finals.