The Black Stars would be in an expectant mood on Boxing Day when Friday’s draw of teams for the finals of the inaugural African Nations Championship is made.

Milovan Rajevac, the Ghana coach, qualified the Black Stars to the historic finals of the maiden competition after edging out Nigeria in the last round of qualifying.

Ghana is one of the two sides – apart from tournament hosts, Ivory Coast - seeded for the draw in Abidjan for eight teams.

Rajevac, whose first taste of the CHAN qualifiers was the two-leg final round match against Nigeria will be taking a look at Libya, Senegal, DR Congo, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe from which Ghana’s group opponents would be draw for the tournament later in February.

Ivory Coast were named as automatic seeds in Group A by being the hosts of the tournament and would be based in the capital, Abidjan while Bouake, the second largest Ivorian city, would host Ghana in Group B.

The Black Stars were handed the other seeding position in Group B because of their status as the best ranked side among all the qualified teams in the Fifa rankings.

The seeding in the draw means that no side could be drawn against a team from the same zone, which means that Zambia and Zimbabwe will be drawn in separate groups because they are both from the Southern Zone. It also meant that the top seeds, Ghana and Ivory Coast avoid facing each other.

The other qualified teams made up Libya, Senegal, DR Congo, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

The competition, which is for locally-based players only, will see Ivory Coast hosting the maiden tournament from the 22nd February-8th March 2009 involving eight sides.