AFCON 2022: Gambia In Group F With Mali, Tunisia, Mauritania

Scorpions who will participate in the Africa Cup of Nations for the first time have to battle with Tunisia, Mali and Mauritania in the group stages in other to advance to the next stage of the competition.

The Scorpions’ toughest opponents will be Tunisia and Mali who are household names in African football.

Tunisia have won one AFCON and participated in four Summer Olympics and five World Cups, but have never progressed beyond the group stage of either the Olympics or the World Cup.

While Mali have a long and historical tradition of participating in the Africa Cup of Nations.

Even though Mali’s participation in the AFCON before the 21st century was sporadic, they managed several notable achievements.

In their debut at the 1972 Africa Cup of Nations, Mali finished runners-up behind Congo a great feat up to date.

Before 2008, each time Mali qualified, they reached the knockout stage, having only qualified four times before then.

Mali hosted the 2002 Africa Cup of Nations; it is the only time they have hosted the tournament thus far.

In the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations, Mali was eliminated with controversy because of the drawing of lots to Guinea.

The other groups for the tournament are as followed:

GROUP A

Cameroon

Ethiopia

Cape Verde

Burkina Faso

GROUP B

Senegal

Guinea Conakry

Malawi

Zimbabwe

GROUP C

Gabon

Comoros

Ghana

Morocco

GROUP D

Nigeria

Egypt

Guinea Bissau

Sudan

GROUP E

Algeria

Ivory Coast

Sierra Leone

Equatorial Guinea

GROUP F

The Gambia

Mali

Tunisia

Mauritania

The tournament is scheduled for January 2022 in Cameroon.