The home-based Eagles team will battle Tunisia, Guinea and Niger Republic in the group stages of the 2016 African Nation Championships following the draw held in Kigali, Rwanda on Sunday.
The draw, which was not attended by the President of the Confederation of Africa Football, Issa Hayatou, put the Nigerians in Group C of the competition taking place between January 16 and February 7 at four venues in the East African country.
Group C also has 2011 champions, Tunisia, Niger and debutants Guinea. They will play at the Nyamirambo Stadium, in Kigali.
Hosts Rwanda will play the opening match against Ivory Coast. They are both in Group A alongside Gabon and Morocco. Group A will play at the Amahoro Stadium also in Kigali.
Winners of the first CHAN finals in 2009 — Democratic Republic of Congo — are in Group B with 2011 losing finalists Angola, Cameroon and Ethiopia. The Group B teams will play in Butare.
Gisenyi will host Group D. The group will feature Zimbabwe, Mali, Uganda and Zambia.
The two best teams in the groups will qualify for the quarter-finals. Nigeria finished third last year in South Africa, the Home Eagles’ first time at CHAN after failing to qualify for earlier editions.
The overall winners of this fixture will advance to the group stage of the qualifying series for Russia 2018.
The full draw
A: Rwanda, Gabon, Morocco, Ivory Coast
B: DR Congo, Angola, Cameroon, Ethiopia
C: Tunisia, Nigeria, Niger, Guinea
D: Zimbabwe, Mali, Uganda, Zambia
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