By Landing Ceesay
The Scorpions of the Gambia are in Group F with Tunisia, Mali and Mauritania for the 2022 Africa Cup of Nations.
Scorpions who will participate in the Africa Cup of Nations for the first time have to battle with Tunisia, Mali and Mauritania in the group stages in other to advance to the next stage of the competition.
The Scorpions’ toughest opponents will be Tunisia and Mali who are household names in African football.
Tunisia have won one AFCON and participated in four Summer Olympics and five World Cups, but have never progressed beyond the group stage of either the Olympics or the World Cup.
While Mali have a long and historical tradition of participating in the Africa Cup of Nations.
Even though Mali’s participation in the AFCON before the 21st century was sporadic, they managed several notable achievements.
In their debut at the 1972 Africa Cup of Nations, Mali finished runners-up behind Congo a great feat up to date.
Before 2008, each time Mali qualified, they reached the knockout stage, having only qualified four times before then.
Mali hosted the 2002 Africa Cup of Nations; it is the only time they have hosted the tournament thus far.
In the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations, Mali was eliminated with controversy because of the drawing of lots to Guinea.
The other groups for the tournament are as followed:
GROUP A
Cameroon
Ethiopia
Cape Verde
Burkina Faso
GROUP B
Senegal
Guinea Conakry
Malawi
Zimbabwe
GROUP C
Gabon
Comoros
Ghana
Morocco
GROUP D
Nigeria
Egypt
Guinea Bissau
Sudan
GROUP E
Algeria
Ivory Coast
Sierra Leone
Equatorial Guinea
GROUP F
The Gambia
Mali
Tunisia
Mauritania
The tournament is scheduled for January 2022 in Cameroon.