The Confederation of Africa Football will Thursday afternoon make preliminary draws of the 2019 African Cup of Nations qualifiers at Radisson Blu Hotel in Libreville,Gabon.

Kenya, who have not performed well in the competition in the past, will have a chance to know their preliminary round opposition.

The last time they featured in the tournament’s finals was in 2004 when they were knocked out from the group stage after losing 3-0 and 3-1 to Senegal and Mali respectively in the show piece that was held in Tunis, Tunisia.

In the 2017-2018 campaign, Stars will be among various  counties that will have to fight their way through the preliminary round before making it to the group stages.

Qualification procudure expected

The preliminary round matches are expected to commence between dates of 20-28 March 2017 through CAF has not released the procudure but only the dates. Next matches will take place between June 5-13 (first leg) and August 1-3 (second leg) while the third round will be between September 3-11 and October 8-16,2018.

All the group winners and runners-up will eventually qualify for the finals in Cameroon joined by the best third placed team in all groups and hosts Cameroon to make 16 teams. Caf will release the teams that will be given a bye in fisrt first round on thursdays assembly.

The competition will be held in Cameroon between January 12 and February 3, 2019 in the various cities in the country.