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2027 Africa Cup of Nations qualification

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2027 Africa Cup of Nations qualification
Tournament details
Dates23 March 2026 – 16 November 2026
Teams54 (from 1 confederation)
← 2025
2028 →

Qualification for the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations will begin on 23 March 2026. A total of 24 teams will qualify to play in the final tournament, including automatically qualified hosts Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania.

Entrants

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All CAF member associations are eligible to enter the competition. The seeding was based on the FIFA World Ranking from 19 November 2025.

The qualifiers group stage draw, originally scheduled for 19 December 2025, was postponed to 13 January 2026.

Teams ranked 1st to 42nd received a bye to the qualifying group stage, while the teams ranked 43rd to 54th have to participate in the preliminary round.

From the January 2026 FIFA World Rankings[1]
Bye to group stage Participating in preliminary round
  1.  Morocco (8)
  2.  Senegal (12)
  3.  Nigeria (26)
  4.  Algeria (28)
  5.  Egypt (31)
  6.  Tunisia (41)
  7.  Ivory Coast (42)
  8.  Mali (53)
  9.  DR Congo (56)
  10.  Cameroon (57)
  11.  South Africa (61)
  12.  Burkina Faso (62)
  13.  Cape Verde (67)
  14.  Ghana (72)
  15.  Gabon (78)
  16.  Guinea (81)
  17.  Uganda (85)
  18.  Angola (89)
  19.  Zambia (91)
  20.  Benin (92)
  21.  Equatorial Guinea (97)
  22.  Mozambique (102)
  23.  Madagascar (105)
  24.  Comoros (109)
  25.  Niger (110)
  26.  Libya (111)
  27.  Tanzania (112)
  28.  Kenya (113)
  29.  Mauritania (115)
  30.  Gambia (116)
  31.  Sudan (117)
  32.  Namibia (118)
  33.  Sierra Leone (120)
  34.  Togo (124)
  35.  Malawi (126)
  36.  Zimbabwe (129)
  37.  Rwanda (131)
  38.  Guinea-Bissau (133)
  39.  Congo (134)
  40.  Botswana (138)
  41.  Central African Republic (139)
  42.  Liberia (141)
  1.  Lesotho (144)
  2.  Burundi (145)
  3.  Ethiopia (147)
  4.  Eswatini (159)
  5.  South Sudan (168)
  6.  Mauritius (176)
  7.  Chad (177)
  8.  São Tomé and Príncipe (189)
  9.  Djibouti (196)
  10.  Somalia (200)
  11.  Seychelles (203)
  12.  Eritrea[2] (unranked)

Schedule

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The schedule of the qualifying tournament is as follows.

Round Matchday Dates Matches
Preliminary round First leg 25–31 March 2026 Team 1 vs. Team 2
Second leg 25–31 March 2026 Team 2 vs. Team 1
Group stage Matchday 1 21 September – 6 October 2026 Team 1 vs. Team 2, Team 3 vs. Team 4
Matchday 2 Team 2 vs. Team 3, Team 4 vs. Team 1
Matchday 3 Team 1 vs. Team 3, Team 2 vs. Team 4
Matchday 4 Team 3 vs. Team 1, Team 4 vs. Team 2
Matchday 5 9–17 November 2026 Team 2 vs. Team 1, Team 4 vs. Team 3
Matchday 6 Team 3 vs. Team 2, Team 1 vs. Team 4

Preliminary round

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Main article: 2027 Africa Cup of Nations qualification preliminary round

The twelve teams were split into six ties which were played in home-and-away two-legged format.[3]

Team 1Agg. Tooltip Aggregate scoreTeam 21st leg2nd leg
Djibouti  South Sudan25–31 Mar25–31 Mar
Chad  Burundi25–31 Mar25–31 Mar
Somalia  Mauritius25–31 Mar25–31 Mar
Seychelles  Lesotho25–31 Mar25–31 Mar
Eritrea  Eswatini25–31 Mar25–31 Mar
São Tomé and Príncipe  Ethiopia25–31 Mar25–31 Mar

References

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  1. ^ "FIFA/Coca-Cola Men's World Ranking". inside.fifa.com. Retrieved 13 January 2026.
  2. ^ "Eritrea included in Afcon 2027 preliminary qualifying". BBC. 13 January 2026. Retrieved 13 January 2026.
  3. ^ "Road to AFCON Pamoja 2027 Kicks Off as Preliminary Round Draw Sets the Stage". africatopsports.com. 13 January 2026. Retrieved 13 January 2026.
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