Ghana has been seeded at the draw for the 2012 African Nations Cup, the Confederation of African Football has announced.

Following impressive displays during the last three tournaments, the Black Stars would be joined in Pot I by Ivory Coast and co-hosts Gabon and Equatorial Guinea for the group draw on October 29 in Malabo.

The Black Stars were ranked number one with 22 points after the classification of the seeded teams.

"To the exception of the co-hosts (Gabon and Equatorial Guinea), the 14 qualified teams will be ranked based on their performances during the last three Africa Cup of Nations, i.e. the 2006, 2008 and 2010 editions," Caf said.

Both Ghana and Ivory are the top seeded teams of groups B and D while the co-hosts, Equatorial Guinea take A and Gabon placed in C.

The remaining twelve teams will be categorized into three Pots (Pot 1, 2 and 3) based on their results in the last three editions of the ACN in 2006, 2008 and 2010.

The remaining qualifiers are Angola, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Guinea, Mali, Morocco, Libya, Niger, Senegal, Sudan, Tunisia and Zambia.

They make up the field of 16 for the tournament from Jan. 21 to Feb.12.

The 2012 Nations Cup will be the last tournament to be played in an even year. From 2013, the final will be played in odd years to avoid clashing with the World Cup