Ghana have been drawn against Liberia in the first round of the qualifiers for the next Olympic Games in Athens in 2004. First leg will be played on 15 June 2003 in Liberia. The Olympic games football tournament is reserved for players below 23 years.

Defending Olympic gold medallists Cameroon were drawn against neighbours Congo. Nigeria, who were gold medallist in Atlanta in 1996, start their qualifying campaign against Namibia

The first round winners then move into a second stage, where they will be divided into four groups of four and play a league-format competition between October next year and March 2004.

The four group winners then qualify for the soccer tournament at the 2004 Athens Olympics.

The first round draw has been released by Fifa and comes after the completion at the weekend of all but one of the preliminary round ties.

Full first round draw

Liberia v Ghana
Zimbabwe v Ethiopia
South Africa v Kenya
Zambia v Botswana
Angola v Lesotho or Mozambique
Uganda v Seychelles
Democratic Republic of Congo v Rwanda
Senegal v Mauritania
Algeria v Chad
Morocco v Gambia
Cameroon v Congo
Burkina Faso v Ivory Coast
Nigeria v Namibia
Mali v Guinea
Egypt v Tanzania
The team mentioned first plays at home in the first leg on the weekend of 13-15 June. The return legs will be on the weekend of 27-29 June.