Whoever qualifies for London could be in with a great chance of Olympic glory, with African teams claiming two gold medals and a silver in the last four Games, a record which comes second only to their South American rivals.

A notable absentee will be 2000 gold medal winners Cameroon, beaten by Tanzania in the first qualification round, whilst a number of big name players will be missing from the squads competing in Morocco as the event falls out of line with the FIFA calendar, meaning clubs do not need to release their players.

Other significant absentees will include Ghana, who were beaten by Sudan in qualifying, and Tunisia, who lost to Malawi.

The tournament has had to be moved to Morocco after Egypt withdrew from hosting it following continued violence in the country, almost a year since the fall of former dictator Hosni Mubarak.

The first game will take place between Pim Verbeek's Morocco and 1996 gold medal winners Nigeria, coached by Austin Eguavoen, and it could be a spicy encounter following a dispute between the two nations over training facilities this week.

After scoring 12 goals in the first two rounds of qualifying for London 2012, Nigeria will be one of the favourites for the tournament, particularly as they finished second at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

They and Morocco compete in Group A with Algeria and Senegal, the latter of whom bring a particularly strong squad, which includes a number of players plying their trade in France's Ligue 1.

Group B includes Egypt, who have not qualified for the Olympics since 1992, as well as South Africa, who are hopeful of making it to London despite the squad being deprived of some of its best players, as coach Ephraim Mashaba looks to take his country to the Olympic Games for the second time.

Côte d'Ivoire and Gabon complete the group, with the two runners up playing the other two group winners in the semi-finals.

The winners of the two semi-finals, as well as the victor in the third place play off, qualify automatically for London 2012, whilst the loser of that game will take part in a play off in Coventry next April against an Asian side to play in the Games.

The tournament, beginning tomorrow, runs until December 10, with games taking place in Tangiers and Marrakech.

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