Nigeria and South Africa were placed in the same group when the draw for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games qualifying tournament was made Wednesday in Egyptian city Alexandria.
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Nigeria and South Africa are in Group B for the November 8-22 championship with the Ivory Coast and Zambia, while Group A comprises hosts Egypt, Mali, Cameroon and Ghana.
Teams are restricted to under-23 footballers and the finalists and the winners of the third-place play-off will represent Africa in Japan, where teams can use three ‘over-age’ players.
Nigeria have won gold (1996) and silver (2008) at Olympic football tournaments, Cameroon gold (2000) and Ghana bronze (1992).
South Africa and Nigeria stood out during a three-round qualifying competition for the tournament in Egypt, with all matches scheduled for Cairo.
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The South Africans twice scored three goals against Angola and banged five past Zimbabwe in Soweto as they chase a second successive appearance at the Olympics.
Although lacking Samuel Chukwueze and Victor Osimhen, who were on senior national team duty, Nigeria crushed Sudan 5-0 last month after losing the first leg by a solitary goal.
The tournament doubles as the Africa U23 Cup of Nations and the previous two editions were won by Gabon (2011) in Morocco and Nigeria (2015) in Senegal.
Group A
Egypt (hosts), Mali, Cameroon, Ghana
Group B
Nigeria, Ivory Coast, South Africa, Zambia
