African champions Egypt received a favourable draw for the qualifying group stages of the 2008 Cup of Nations in Ghana.

The five-time continental kings were drawn with Mauritania, Botswana and Burundi in Group Two, after Thursday's draw in Cairo.

Ivory Coast, the runner-up at the last Nations Cup tournament, are in Group One with Gabon, Madagascar and Djibouti, while 2006 bronze medallists Nigeria are in Group Three with Lesotho, Uganda and Niger.

The opening round of group matches are to be played between 1-3 September, with the final round of games ending between 7-9 September 2007.

Forty-seven countries will compete in 12 groups to qualify for 15 out of the 16 places at the 2008 finals.

Automatic qualification is guaranteed to the team that tops each group, while the top three runners-up in the groups consisting of four teams will join them.

This means that only one team has the chance of qualifying from Group 12, which has just three teams - Morocco, Zimbabwe and Malawi.

Ghana qualify for the 2008 tournament as hosts.

Nations Cup qualifying groups

Group One
Gabon, Madagascar, Djibouti, Côte d'Ivoire.

Group Two
Mauritania, Botswana, Egypt, Burundi.

Group Three
Uganda, Lesotho, Nigeria, Niger.

Group Four
Sudan, Seychelles, Mauritius, Tunisia.

Group Five
Rwanda, Cameroun, Equatorial Guinea, Liberia.

Group Six
Swaziland, Angola, Kenya, Eritrea.

Group Seven
Tanzania, Burkina Faso, Sénégal, Mozambique.

Group Eight
Guinea, Algeria, Gambia, Cape Verde.

Group Nine
Sierra Leone, Mali, Togo, Bénin.

Group Ten
Ethiopia, Libya, DR Congo, Namibia.

Group Eleven
South Africa, Congo, Chad, Zambia.

Group Twelve
Morocco, Malawi, Zimbabwe.