The Gambua Under 17 team - the nation's sole representative in continental football - will know their group opponents in the 8th African U-17 Championship tournament  when the draw is made this weekend in Algiers.

The Gambia together with the hosts Algeria, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Guinea, Mali, Niger and Zimbabwe will on Sunday, February 15, be drawn into two groups of four at the ceremony, which will serve as the final lap to the main championship fixed between March 19 and April 3, in the North African country.

The draw will be without defending champions, the Golden Eaglets of Nigeria who were bundled out at the first round by Benin. Nigeria are not the only dominant force as far as cadet football is concerned to be absent from the tournament as fellow two-time winners; the Black Starlets of Ghana will also be missing for the first time since 2005. The Gambia Baby Scorpions edged past the Ghana Starlets on the away goal rule after both ties were tied 3-3.

It was a sweet revenge for the Gambian youth team who had earlier watched their big brothers - the U-20 team  lost to their Ghana counterparts who eventually clinched the coveted title in the Rwanda Under 20 Championship finals last month.

Sunday's mouth-watering draw will involve three teams who will be making their debut at the biennial championship namely hosts, Algeria, Malawi and Niger. Malawi's Junior Flames brushed past their Namibian counterparts 8-3 on aggregate whilst the Young Mena of Niger squeezed past the Baby Elephants of Cote d'Ivoire on the away goals after both legs were tied to all.

Cameroon, winners in 2003 in Swaziland is the only former champion among the qualified teams.  This will be the first time the biennial championship will be held in North Africa since its inception in 1995 in Cameroon.