Asamoah Gyan [R] with Mimi Fawaz [M] of BBC

Ghana legend Asamoah Gyan has arrived in Yaounde, Cameroon for Tuesday’s 2021 Africa Cup of Nations [Afcon] draw.

Gyan, who is the country’s all-time leading goalscorer, will join other African legends for the group stage draw of the 24 qualified teams.

Out of seven Africa Cup of Nations tournaments he played in, Gyan scored in six of them- a record he holds alongside Cameroonian legend Samuel Eto’o and Zambian Kalusha Bwalya.

The former Sunderland and Al Ain striker has been invited by the Confederation of African Football (Caf).

Ghana has been placed in Pot 2 together with Egypt, Ivory Coast, Mali, Burkina Faso and Guinea while host Cameroon, Algeria, Tunisia, Senegal, Morocco and Nigeria make up the seeded countries in Pot A.

The draw will be co-hosted by the BBC’s Mimi Fawaz.

Meanwhile, CK Akonnor, who is the head coach of the Black Stars and the Ghana Football Association [GFA] president, Kurt Okraku have all arrived in Cameroon for the draw.

Ghana is hoping to emerge winners having won the competition four times with the last one coming in 1982. They were finalists in 1992, 2010 and 2015 but cruelly lost the final games.

 

The 2021 Afcon opening game and final will be played at the 60,000 seater Olembe Stadium in Yaoundé.

The Draw Procedure:

The qualified teams will be allocated into four pots of six each, based on their FIFA world ranking.

Based on this ranking, the top four teams will be allocated to Pot One along with the hosts, and titleholders Algeria.

Ghana has been drawn in pot 2.

The remaining 18 teams will be allocated to the three remaining pots according to their ranking in descending order.

The belated 2021 Africa Cup of Nations will run from 9 January to 6 February 6, 2022.

The opening match and final will be played at the newly built Olembe Stadium in Yaoundé which has a capacity of 60,000.

Other venues are Douala, Bafoussam, Garoua and Limbe.