Home Football AFCONAFCON 2027 qualifiers: teams, groups and full schedule

AFCON 2027 qualifiers: teams, groups and full schedule

Sep 24, 2026 04:04 PM GMT+00:00

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AFCON 2027 qualifiers: teams, groups and full schedule

Qualifying for the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations begins on Thursday, with 48 countries competing to earn places in Africa's biggest football tournament.

Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda will co-host AFCON 2027, as the competition returns to East Africa for the first time in 51 years. Divided into 12 groups, the teams will be involved in a six-round qualifying process that runs to March next year.

The 12 qualifying groups

The draw for the AFCON 2027 qualifiers took place in Cairo, Egypt, in May. The 48 teams competing are as follows.

Group A: Morocco, Gabon, Niger, Lesotho
Group B: Egypt, Angola, Malawi, South Sudan
Group C: Ivory Coast, Ghana, The Gambia, Somalia
Group D: South Africa, Guinea, Kenya, Eritrea
Group E: Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Sierra Leone, Zimbabwe
Group F: Burkina Faso, Benin, Mauritania, Central African Republic
Group G: Cameroon, Comoros, Namibia, Congo
Group H: Tunisia, Uganda, Libya, Botswana
Group I: Algeria, Zambia, Togo, Burundi
Group J: Senegal, Mozambique, Sudan, Ethiopia
Group K: Mali, Cape Verde, Rwanda, Liberia
Group L: Nigeria, Madagascar, Tanzania, Guinea-Bissau

Opening matches to watch

From the first two rounds, the standout fixtures are as follows.

Ivory Coast vs Ghana, Thursday 24 September at 19:00 GMT
Nigeria vs Madagascar, Friday 25 September at 16:00 GMT
Morocco vs Gabon, Friday 25 September at 19:00 GMT
Egypt vs Angola, Friday 25 September at 19:00 GMT
Algeria vs Zambia, Friday 25 September at 19:00 GMT
Senegal vs Mozambique, Friday 25 September at 19:00 GMT
South Africa vs Guinea, Saturday 26 September at 16:00 GMT

Qualifying schedule across three international windows

The six rounds of AFCON 2027 qualifying will be held across the following FIFA international windows.

Rounds 1 and 2: 21 September to 6 October 2026
Rounds 3 and 4: 9 to 17 November 2026
Rounds 5 and 6: 22 to 30 March 2027

How teams qualify for the finals

In total, 24 teams qualify for AFCON 2027.

The general rule is that the top two teams in each group will advance to the finals. However, in groups containing Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, who have automatically qualified as co-hosts, only the highest-ranked team outside the respective host country will go through.

The qualifiers will be played in a home and away format, with each team playing six matches.

When and where AFCON 2027 will be played

The 36th edition of AFCON will be held in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, bringing the tournament back to East Africa after five decades.

It will run from 19 June to 17 July 2027 at 10 venues across the three countries. The stadiums are in the Tanzanian cities of Dar-es-Salaam, Arusha and Zanzibar, the Kenyan capital Nairobi, and Hoima, Kampala and Lira in Uganda.

Senegal, Morocco and the title still being contested

Senegal defeated Morocco 1-0 in the latest AFCON final on 18 January, as Pape Gueye's extra-time goal in a chaotic contest guided them to their second continental title.

In March, however, the Confederation of African Football made the extraordinary move to strip Senegal of their crown and award it to Morocco. The controversial decision came after a review of an incident at the end of normal time in the final, which saw most of the Senegalese team temporarily leave the field to protest an added-time penalty awarded to Morocco, which was missed after a lengthy delay.

Senegal have appealed against CAF's decision, and the appeal will be heard by the Court of Arbitration for Sport on 8 October.

Star players to watch in the qualifiers

Two-time African Footballer of the Year Mohamed Salah, who now plays club football for Trabzonspor in the Turkish Super Lig, stars in the squad of record seven-time African champions Egypt.

Fans should also watch out for Real Madrid forward Brahim Diaz and teen midfield sensation Ayyoub Bouaddi in the Morocco squad, led by new coach Mohamed Ouahbi, as well as Ademola Lookman and Samuel Chukwueze in the Nigerian side.

Elsewhere, Ghana are strengthened by the return of attacking midfielder Mohammed Kudus, who missed the FIFA World Cup 2026 during a seven-month injury absence, while Senegal's midfield features several talents such as Ibrahim Mbaye and Iliman Ndiaye.

Key absentees for the opening rounds

Morocco will be without their key player and captain Achraf Hakimi for the opening two matches as he serves a two-match suspension, alongside Ismael Saibari, who is banned for three games, for unsporting behaviour during the shambolic AFCON final in January.

Senegal will be without Sadio Mane, a two-time African Footballer of the Year, as the Al-Nassr player sits out the match against Mozambique with what newly appointed coach Patrick Vieira described as a "physical issue".

Nigeria's star striker Victor Osimhen will miss the opening qualifiers against Madagascar and Guinea-Bissau as he continues his recovery from a muscle problem picked up while playing for his Turkish club Galatasaray.

Naby Keita is among several established names excluded from the Guinea squad, while Tunisia's Hannibal Mejbri and Ivory Coast's Amad Diallo are both out with injuries.

Gabon will be without former captain and all-time top scorer Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who quit international duty saying he felt "humiliated" by his exclusion and subsequent reinstatement after the AFCON in Morocco in January.

Many other players have also called time on their international careers this year, including Riyad Mahrez, who guided Algeria to the AFCON 2019 title, Edouard Mendy, Senegal's first-choice goalkeeper during their AFCON 2021 triumph, and Ghana's Spanish-born forward Inaki Williams.