It will see the participation of 44 teams with 22 teams qualifying for the second round, while Morocco will participate without going through the qualifiers as host country of the competition.

The first leg will end with a single game next Friday between Sao Tome and Togo, while the match between Djibouti and Rwanda has been canceled due to the withdrawal of the Rwandan team, allowing Djibouti to qualify directly for the next round. 

Other matches will see three-time defending champions Nigeria taking on Ghana, Egypt facing Tunisia, Equatorial Guinea playing DR Congo and Uganda facing Ethiopia.