Former Kaizer Chiefs forward Mark Williams, whose two goals in the final of the 1996 Africa Cup of Nations handed South Africa their finest football moment to date, will captain the hosts’ team.

Williams’ team were handed a great draw in Group A and will play two of the three sides making their debuts at the African qualifier, Cape Verde and Mozambique, and familiar foes Cote d'Ivoire.

In fact, the opening match of the tournament sees South Africa take on Cote d’Ivoire on Tuesday afternoon.

Group B has the top two teams from the 2006 qualifying tournament, Cameroon and Nigeria, as well as Egypt, who topped one of the groups last year only to lose in the semi-finals. The fourth team in the group is newcomers Senegal.

The four teams from each group will play each other in a round-robin format on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. The top two teams from each group qualify for the semi-finals on Saturday with the two semi-final winners earning the right to play at the finals.

“It is the kind of draw we wanted,” said South African captain Mark Williams. “I would like to have not had to play Cote D’Ivoire first up, and we will still have to win a tough semi-final to qualify, but we have the easier group.

“Group B with Cameroon, Nigeria and Egypt are definitely the Group of Death and one of the top teams is going to miss out on the semi-finals.”

The competition will be the first of six qualifying events in all confederations, culminating in the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup 2007 from 2 to 11 November 2007 on the Copacabana beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

From 4 to 8 July, eight teams including hosts South Africa and newcomers Mozambique and Senegal will play for two African berths at the finals.

The qualifying campaign will then continue with two more tournaments for the North, Central American & Caribbean zone and the South American zone in Acapulco, Mexico, from 8 to 12 August.

The North, Central American & Caribbean and South American teams will compete on the Mexican beaches for just two tickets per zone to Rio. Four days later, the Asian qualifiers will start in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, with three of the eight teams advancing to the final tournament.

The dates for the Oceanian leg, meanwhile, have yet to be defined.

The draw for Rio de Janeiro will be conducted following the climax of the European qualifying event in Marseilles from 21 to 26 August, which will see Europe’s best battling it out for five tickets to the finals.