BY SAB OSUJI

Nigeria Super Eagles were Thursday drawn in Group A comprising hosts, Ivory Coast, Equatorial Guinea and Guinea Bissau as the African Cup of Nations returns to the West African nation 40 years after, Exclusivenews.com.ng reports.

Ivory Coast were proud hosts in 1984 but it was Nigeria and Cameroon that grabbed all the headlines as Adegboye Onigbinde's largely home based players dominated Eagles reached the final with Indomitable Lions lifting the trophy following a 1-0 triumph in the epic final.

Forty years after, the Super Eagles will be in the thick of things back in Cote d'Ivoire, but unlike in 1984 when they were logged in pool B with center at Bouake, the three time African Champions will this time battle hosts, Ivory Coast in Group A with center in Abidjan, capital city of the country.

The Group tie between the two West African football Super powers will mark the ninety (9) clash involving the two nations at this top level in the last 30 years.

Significantly, in 1993, Super Eagles under Dutch and Clemense Westerhof, cruised to an emphatic 4-1 win over their Ivoirien rivals on the way to making their FIFA World Cup finals debut in USA '94.

Ivory Coast equally triumphed 2-1 in the reverse fixture back home, but was not enough to derail Super Eagles first World Cup qualification train.

Similarly, Nigeria and Ivory Coast have crossed each other's football path six times since 2006 with Ivory Coast winning four of the ties and Nigeria emerging victorious twice.

In Thursday night's draws held in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, title holders, Terrington Lions of Senegal, were pooled in Group C alongside Indomitable Lions of Cameroon, Guinea and The Gambia.

The full groupings as thrown up by the draws are as follows:

Group A
Ivory Coast
Nigeria
Equatorial Guinea
Guinea-Bissau

Group B
Egypt
Ghana
Cape Verde
Mozambique

Group C
Senegal
Cameroon
Guinea
Gambia

Group D
Algeria
Burkina Faso
Mauritania
Angola

Group E
Tunisia
Mali
South Africa
Namibia

Group F
Morocco
DR Congo
Zambia
Tanzania.

The tournament will take place in January, 2024.