•Forty Fifa affiliated teams out of the 52 African nations were pooled into 10 groups.
Image: FILE
Kenya's national football team, Harambee Stars were on Tuesday pooled in group E alongside neighbors Uganda, Rwanda and Mali in the 2022 Fifa World Cup qualifiers in the draw conducted at the CAF head quarters in Cairo Egypt.
Stars under the tutelage of head coach Francis Kimanzi will be vying for the biggest world tournament ticket for the 13th time as they seek their maiden appearance.
Forty Fifa affiliated teams out of the 52 African nations were pooled into 10 groups of four each, and will play two legs in a round-robin format, with only winners advancing to the third round. The group phase starts in March 2020 and comes to an end in October 2021. The ten group winners will be drawn into five two-legged knockout ties to be played in November 2021, with the aggregate five winners representing Africa in the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.
Kenya is the third best FIFA ranked team in the group at position 106, behind 72nd placed Uganda and 56th placed west Africans Mali, while Rwanda are bottom at 131. Stars played to a 1-1 draw in a friendly match with Uganda on Sep 8th, 2019 at the Moi International Sports Centre Kasarani.
African 2022 World Cup qualifying, second-round, draw
Group A Algeria, Burkina Faso, Niger, Djibouti Group B Tunisia, Zambia, Mauritania, Equatorial Guinea Group C Nigeria, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Liberia Group D Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Mozambique, Malawi Group E Mali, Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda Group F Egypt, Gabon, Libya, Angola Group G Ghana, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Ethiopia Group H Senegal, Congo Brazzaville, Namibia, Togo Group I Morocco, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Sudan Group J DR Congo, Benin, Madagascar, Tanzania