Ghana will know Opponents today

The seedings:
First: Cameroon, Egypt (hosts), Nigeria, Tunisia
Second: DR Congo, Morocco, Senegal, South Africa
Third: C?te d'Ivoire Ghana, Guinea, Togo
Fourth: Angola, Libya, Zambia, Zimbabwe

Group A: ?
Group B: ?
Group C: ?
Group D: ?

Three of Africa's five World Cup finalists could find themselves in the same group at the 2006 African Nations Cup finals when the draw for the tournament is made on Thursday.

Tunisia is the only nation of the continent's World Cup qualifiers to be named among the four top seeds for the finals, to be hosted by Egypt from January 20 until February 10 next year.

Tunisia face the distinct possibility of being paired with Angola and one of Ghana, the Ivory Coast or Togo in the same group when the draw is conducted in Cairo.

Angola have been placed among the final tier of seeds for the 16-nation tournament, while the other three World Cup finalists have been put in the group of third seeds.

The qualifiers for the Nations Cup tournament have been divided into four levels with hosts Egypt, Cameroon, Nigeria and Tunisia each receiving a top seeding for the opening round groups. Seeding for the draw is determined not by the qualifying results but rather from previous Nations Cup finals performances. Egypt has already been placed as top seed in Group A, which is to be played in the capital Cairo. Defending champions Tunisia, who won when they hosted the last tournament in early 2004, will head Group C in the Mediterranean resort city of Alexandria.

Cameroon and Nigeria, sensationally eliminated from the World Cup race on the final day of qualifiers earlier this month, head the other two groups.

The preliminary competition for the World Cup finals in Germany also served for the first time as the qualifiers for the 2006 Nations Cup.

While the top three teams in each of the five groups qualified for the Nations Cup finals, only the group winners booked a trip to Germany next year.