From olunga to Salah: African stars set to shine at the 2019 AFCON

After months of looking for 24 countries that will battle it out for the African cup of nations trophy, the qualifiers curtains finally drew over the weekend.

Kenya who lost their final qualifying match to Ghana had already booked their ticket way before the match.

Harambee Stars are set to appear at the continental showpiece for the first time after a 15-year absence.

East Africa will be represented by four teams including; Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Burundi with the latter making their debut in the tournament set to be staged in Egypt in June and July.

Other teams set to make their debut include Madagascar and Mauritania.

Below is a list of teams which managed to book their tickets for this year's AFCON tourney.

Egypt, Madagascar, Tunisia, Senegal, Morocco, Nigeria, Uganda, Mali, Guinea, Algeria, Mauritania and Ivory Coast.

Kenya, Ghana, Angola, Burundi, Cameroon, Guinea-Bissau, Namibia, Zimbabwe, DR Congo, Benin, Tanzania and South Africa.

I take a look at a number of stars across these nations who are set to light up the much anticipated tournament.

1. Michael Olunga - Kashiwa Reysol Forward, Kenya
2. Francis Kahata - Gor Mahia midfielder, Kenya
3. Eric Bailly - Manchester United defender, Ivory Coast
4. Alex Iwobi - Arsenal forward, Nigeria
5. Musa Ahmed -  Al-Nassr forward, Nigeria
6. Sadio Mane - Liverpool midfielder, Senegal
7. Kalidou Koulibaly  - Napoli defender, Senegal
8. Denis Onyango - Mamelodi Sundowns goalkeeper, Uganda
9.  Adama Traoré - Wolves winger, Mali
10. Saido Berahino - Stoke City forward, Burundi
11. Mohammed Salah- Liverpool forward, Egypt
12. Medhi Benatia - Al-Duhail centre back, Morocco
13. Kwadwo Asamoah - Inter Milan defender, Ghana
14. Tomas Partey - Atletico Madrid midfielder, Ghana