The draw, at 19h30, will determine the four groups of the 16-nation competition that will be played from January 14-February 5 across four cities in Gabon.
Though Bafana Bafana will not be represented after failing to qualify, domestic football will be on pause during the tournament and only resume on February 7 – two days after the final which the PSL will hope doesn’t surprisingly involve Zimbabwe.
As is the norm, the bulk of the players that will be in the colours of The Warriors play in the PSL with as many as 20 Zimbabweans currently attached to clubs playing in the PSL.
Onismor Bhasera, Kingstone Nkhatha at SuperSport United, George Chigova – Polokwane City, Tendai Ndoro – Orlando Pirates, Blessing Moyo, Evans Rusike – Maritzburg United, Khama Billiat – Mamelodi Sundowns, Kudakwashe Mahachi, Danny Phiri – Golden Arrows and the Kaizer Chiefs trio of Willard Katsande, Michelle Katsvairo and Edmore Chirambadare.
PSL newboys Highlands Park have Tapuwa Kapini, Charlton Mashumba and Augustine Mbara, Cuthbert Malajila and Knox Mutizwa are at Bidvest Wits, Marshall Munetsi, Cleopas Dube – Baroka and Eric Chipeta – Ajax Cape Town.
Only Kapini has previously played at the AFCON finals – which he did in 2004 and 2006 – of all the PSL-based players available for selection.
The Warriors will be making only their third ever appearance at the AFCON finals.
Group A – for which the host nation are the seeded team – will be played in Libreville, Franceville will host Group B with Group C to feature Ivory Coast in Oyem, while Group D will be played in Port Gentil.
Besides Gabon as hosts, the other seeded teams in Pot A are defending champions Ivory Coast, Ghana and Algeria all of whom will enjoy the privilege of avoiding each other in the group stages.
The second pot has Tunisia, Mali, Burkina Faso and DR Congo, with the third pot containing heavyweights Cameroon, Senegal, Morocco and Egypt.
Pot 4 – reserved for the lowest seeded countries - has Togo, Uganda, Zimbabwe and surprise qualifiers Guinea-Bissau who will be making their first appearance at the finals.
To seed the teams, their performances at the last three AFCON finals, the last three AFCON qualifiers and the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifiers and finals was taken into account.
For now The Warriors will only know that they will not be in the same group with any of Togo, Uganda and Guinea-Bissau.
Whatever group that they are then thrown in, The Warriors will face any of Cameroon, Senegal, Morocco and Egypt in Pot 3, any of Tunisia, Mali, Burkina Faso, DR Congo from Pot 2 or any of Gabon, Ivory Coast, Ghana and Algeria in Pot 1.