HARARE – Zimbabwe will play Somalia in the African preliminary round for the 2022 World Cup qualifiers, according to a draw made in Cairo, Egypt, on Monday night.

Ranked 202 in the world, Somalia are the lowest ranked African team. It is the first time Zimbabwe are playing the East African country in any competition.

The Warriors, who are still without a coach after Sunday Chidzambwa threw in the towel following a poor showing at the Africa Cup of Nations finals in June, will play Somalia over two legs between September 2 and 10.

The preliminary round features 14 two-leg ties involving the lower ranked countries.

The 14 aggregate winners will join the 26 countries given byes, based on the July world rankings, in the six-round group phase from next March.

The 10 section winners advance to play-offs, which will decide the five qualifiers for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

Namibia‚ who could also have a new coach‚ must also travel to that part of the continent as they take on Eritrea‚ as do Lesotho‚ who have been drawn against Ethiopia.

Meanwhile‚ Malawi will face-off against Botswana in an all-Southern African title.

The same is true for Mauritius and Mozambique‚ while Angola face a tough tie against rapidly-improving Gambia‚ who are led by former Free State Stars coach Tom Saintfiet.

Egypt, Morocco, Nigeria, Senegal and Tunisia represented Africa at the 2018 World Cup in Russia and none of them made it past the first round.

2022 World Cup African Preliminary Round Draw:

Ethiopia v Lesotho

Somalia v Zimbabwe

Eritrea v Namibia

Burundi v Tanzania

Djibouti v eSwatini (formerly Swaziland)

Botswana v Malawi

Gambia v Angola

Liberia v Sierra Leone

Mauritius v Mozambique

Sao Tome e Principe v Guinea-Bissau

South Sudan v Equatorial Guinea

Comoros v Togo

Chad v Sudan

Seychelles v Rwanda

First, second legs: Sept 2-10

Byes: Senegal, Tunisia, Nigeria, Algeria, Morocco, Egypt, Ghana, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ivory Coast, Mali, Burkina Faso, South Africa, Guinea, Cape Verde, Uganda, Zambia, Benin, Gabon, Congo Brazzaville, Madagascar, Niger, Libya, Mauritania, Kenya, Central African Republic