Group D Nigeria Benin Morocco South Africa

The Nigerians have been paired with two other former African champions - Morocco and South Africa - as well as newcomers Benin in Group D.

At the 2002 World Cup finals, the Super Eagles were eliminated at the first stage having been drawn with England, Argentina and Sweden in the tournament's 'group of death'.

Although they struggled at the last Nations Cup in Mali, South Africa gained great confidence from their own World Cup and showed something of a return to form when seeing off the Ivory Coast in one of the toughest qualifying groups for Tunisia 2004.

Bafana Bafana's match with the Super Eagles promises to be one of the ties of the first round at Tunisia 2004.

It also offers the chance for the South Africans to avenge their defeat in the semi-finals of the 2000 edition.

Tijani Babangida ran rampant and inspired the Super Eagles to a 2-0 victory at the tournament jointly hosted by Ghana and Nigeria.

The 1976 winners Morocco will also be a tough nut to crack.

The Atlas Lions dropped only two points in qualifying and are looking to a new generation of players to restore some of the highs the team hit in the 1990s.

Their last Nations Cup match against Nigeria ended in a 2-0 and saw the dismissal of their high-profile French coach, Henri Michel.

Current Atlas Lions coach Badou Zaki told BBC Sport website that Tunisia 2004 gives his team a chance to get even with South Africa and Nigeria.

"We have played against them in the past and lost, but now I have the chance to beat these teams," said Zaki.

"I have the chance to organise better preparations for my team and erase bad memories against Nigeria and South Africa."

Benin, meanwhile, were one of the surprise qualifiers, and along with Zimbabwe and Rwanda are making their very first appearance at the finals.

Make no bones about it - they will very much be the minnows in the group yet they cannot be completely written off.

Schedule of Group D matches:

Tuesday, 27 January
Nigeria vs Morocco (Monastir)
South Africa vs Benin (Sfax)

Saturday, 31 January
Nigeria vs South Africa (Monastir)
Morocco vs Benin (Sfax)

Wednesday, 4 February
Morocco vs South Africa (Sousse)
Nigeria vs Benin (Sfax)