Not less than 12 African teams have booked their place at next year's African Cup of Nations which will hold in Ivory Coast.

The number of countries that have secured their place for continent's elite competition increased from 8 to 12 following the completion of the penultimate round of matches.

Nigeria, Guinea-Bissau, Zambia and South Africa are the latest teams to join the 8 countries who have already booked their tickets to Cote d'Ivoire next year.

Twelve other teams will confirm their place in the final round of qualifying matches making a total of 24 teams.

Meanwhile, the likes of Sao Tome and Principe, Botswana, Lesotho and Madagascar, Libya, Liberia, Comoros, South Sudan, Ethiopia, are already out of the tournament.

WDN