Cairo: Three of Africa's five World Cup finalists could find themselves in the same group at the 2006 African Nations Cup finals when the draw for the tournament is made on Thursday.
Tunisia is the only World Cup qualifier to be named among the four top seeds for the finals, being hosted in Egypt from January 20 until February 10 next year.
The country faces the distinct possibility of being paired with Angola along with any one of the other three African nations.
Ghana, Ivory Coast or Togo could be in the same group when the draw is conducted against the backdrop of the Pyramids in Cairo.
Angola have been placed among the final tier of seeds for the 16-nation tournament, while the other three World Cup finalists have been put in the group of third seeds.
The qualifiers for the Nations Cup tournament have been divided into four levels with hosts Egypt, Cameroon, Nigeria and Tunisia each receiving top seeding for the opening round groups.
Seeding for the draw is determined not by the qualifying results but rather from previous Nations Cup finals performances.
Egypt has been placed as top seeds in Group A, which is to be played in the capital Cairo.
Defending champions Tunisia, who won when they hosted the last tournament in early 2004, will head Group C in the Mediterranean resort city of Alexandria.
Cameroon and Nigeria, sensationally eliminated from the World Cup race on the final day of qualifiers earlier this month, head the other two groups.
The preliminary competition for the World Cup finals in Germany also served for the first time as the qualifiers for the 2006 Nations Cup.
While the top three teams in each of the five groups qualified for the Nations Cup finals, only the group winners have booked a trip to Germany next year.
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