By Victor Kanayo
Up to 24 Nations that qualified for the 2023 FIFA U23 World Cup are now set for the draws on March 31 in Indonesia.
In Africa, Senegal, Gambia, Tunisia and Nigeria have already booked their places and placed in various pots.
This followed the conclusion of the U20 Africa Cup of Nations tournament in Egypt on Saturday, March 11.
While Senegal finished as Champions for the first time, Gambia were runners-up.
Nigeria ended the competition as third best and Tunisia in fourth place.
Europe’s flag bearers will be England, France, Israel, Italy and Slovakia, while South America will be represented by Brazil, Uruguay, Colombia and Ecuador – leaving out both Portugal and Argentina from the equation.
Even Cup holders Ukraine, winners of 20219 global championship in France got bumped in the qualifying race. They defeated Korea Republic 3-1 in the final of that year.
Reigning vice champions Korea Republic, Uzbekistan, Iraq and Japan will be flying Asia’s flag, while USA, Honduras, Guatemala and Dominican Republic will represent North and Central America. Fiji and New Zealand will bear the flag of Oceania.
All the teams will be in the four different pots for the Draw to be conducted at the Taman Werdhi Budaya Art Centre in Denpasar, Bali with Nigeria already slotted into Pot 3.
Senegal stay in Pot 1 alongside Italy, USA and France while The Gambia and Tunisia have homes in Pot 4.
The teams will be drawn in six groups of four teams each, with the top two teams from each group and the four best third-place finishers in the six groups making the progress to the Round of 16.
Portugal, who got the better of Nigeria in a 2-0 in the Final of the FIFA U20 World Cup in Riyadh in 1989, and Argentina, who beat the Flying Eagles to the trophy in The Netherlands in 2005, have both failed to make the cut as the field for this year’s finals in Indonesia filled up at the weekend.
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