Accra, June 27, GNA - The Confederation of African Football (CAF) ha= s announced that the official draw for the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations will be held on Saturday, October 29 in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea. A statement on the CAF website culled by GNA Sports in Accra said the draw will be conducted by its General Secretary, Hicham El Amrani with the assistance of some renowned footballers.

It said the 16 qualified teams will be drawn into four groups of four teams each for the final tournament. The statement added that the two top teams from each group will qualif= y for the quarter finals with the winners progressing to the semi finals and finals eventually. Co-hosts Gabon and Equatorial Guinea have qualified automatically with Botswana and Cote d'Ivoire having already booked their tickets from the qualifiers with two games remaining.

Ghana's Black Stars share top spot of Group I with Sudan on 10 point= s apiece, Congo have three points with Swaziland at the bottom pointless. The 12 other teams will be known after the final matches of the qualifying series on October 9. The final will take place from 21 January to 12 February, 2012. Equatorial Guinea will host the opening ceremony with the final billed for Gabon.