Defending Olympic gold medallists Cameroon have been drawn against neighbours Congo in the first round of the qualifiers for the next Games in Athens in 2004.

The first round draw has been released by Fifa and comes after the completion at the weekend of all but one of the preliminary round ties.

Cameroon have home advantage in the first leg of their tie against Congo in June, with the return in Brazzaville a fortnight later.

Nigeria, who were gold medallist in Atlanta in 1996, start their qualifying campaign against Namibia.

Morocco play Gambia, while South Africa face Kenya, who scored 15 goals without reply against Somalia in their preliminary round leg.

At the weekend, Botswana, Chad, Ethiopia, Rwanda and the Seychelles all qualified for the first round after competing their preliminary round ties.

Second stage

The meeting between Lesotho and Mozambique in Maseru was postponed until this weekend, with the two sides having played out a goalless draw in Maputo earlier this month.

Tunisia have a bye into the second round after both Benin and Equatorial Guinea, who were supposed to play each other in the preliminary round, withdrew.

The first round winners then move into a second stage, where they will be divided into four groups of four and play a league-format competition between October next year and March 2004.

The four group winners then qualify for the soccer tournament at the 2004 Athens Olympics.

Full first round draw

Zimbabwe v Ethiopia
South Africa v Kenya
Zambia v Botswana
Angola v Lesotho or Mozambique
Uganda v Seychelles
Democratic Republic of Congo v Rwanda
Senegal v Mauritania
Algeria v Chad
Morocco v Gambia
Cameroon v Congo
Burkina Faso v Ivory Coast
Liberia v Ghana
Nigeria v Namibia
Mali v Guinea
Egypt v Tanzania

The first legs will be played on the weekend of 13-15 June. The return legs will be on the weekend of 27-29 June.