Egypt coach Hassan Shehata hoists the 2010 Nations Cup trophy

The draw for the qualifying campaign for the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations is scheduled for Saturday in the DR Congo city of Lubumbashi.

There will be 42 countries in the draw for the 2012 finals to be co-hosted by Equatorial Guinea and Gabon, who qualify automatically.

Togo are not in Saturday's draw but could still be included at a later date if their appeal over a ban from the next two Nations Cups with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas) is successful.

Togo were controversially banned from the 2012 and 2014 Nations Cups by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) because of 'government interference.'

That followed Togo's pull out of last month's tournament in Angola at the insistence of the Togolese government after a deadly rebel attack injured players and left two members of their delegation dead.

The Togolese FA had asked Cas for the ban to be temporarily lifted so that they could be included in Saturday's draw.

That initial appeal failed, but Cas is due to make a final ruling on Togo's appeal in the coming months.

If the Swiss-based court eventually finds in Togo's favour then a new draw for the 2012 edition will be held.

Meanwhile Caf has not released many details of the draw and has not named the nations that have not entered.

The BBC understands that the 42 sides are two be drawn into nine groups of four nations and two groups of three countries.

The 11 group winners along with the best three second-placed teams will qualify for the finals.

The southern Congolese city has been chosen because leading Caf officials will be there to attend the annual African Super Cup match between Champions League winners, TP Mazembe of DR Congo, and Confederation Cup holders Stade Malien of Mali on Sunday.

Egypt won the Nations Cup a record third consecutive time last month, edging Ghana 1-0 in a Luanda final settled five minutes from full-time by a goal from 'super sub' Mohamed 'Gedo' Nagy.

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