NAIROBI, Kenya, Jan 21 – The national football team Harambee Stars has been drawn in Group E with neighbors Uganda, Mali and Rwanda for Africa 2022 World Cup Qualifier second round.
In the draw conducted on Tuesday in Cairo, Egypt, forty teams were divided into ten groups of four teams each, playing in a round-robin format.
Group winners will advance to the third round which will see five home and away fixtures to be played in November, with the aggregate five winners representing Africa in the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.
African football champions Algeria, led by Riyad Mahrez, will take on Burkina Faso, Djibouti and Niger.
Other heavyweights such as Senegal, relying on 2020 African Footballer of the Year Sadio Mane, and Mohamed Salah’s Egypt will take on less-fancied nations.
Madagascar, surprise quarter-finalists in last year’s Africa Cup of Nations, will face the Democratic Republic of Congo.
All five African teams failed to reach the knockout stage of the 2018 World Cup, the first time that had happened since 1982.
African 2022 World Cup qualifying, second-round, draw:
Group A
Algeria, Burkina Faso, Niger, Djibouti
Group B
Tunisia, Zambia, Mauritania, Equatorial Guinea
Group C
Nigeria, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Liberia
Group D
Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Mozambique, Malawi
Group E
Mali, Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda
Group F
Egypt, Gabon, Libya, Angola
Group G
Ghana, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Ethiopia
Group H
Senegal, Congo Brazzaville, Namibia, Togo
Group I
Morocco, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Sudan
Group J
DR Congo, Benin, Madagascar, Tanzania