Super Eagles Eye AFCON 2027 Spot Ahead of CAF Draw

Super Eagles Eye AFCON 2027 Spot Ahead of CAF Draw

By Admin 

The Confederation of African Football will on Tuesday conduct the qualifying draw for the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations, with Nigeria’s Super Eagles set to discover their group-stage opponents, BSNSports.com.ng reports.

The draw ceremony, scheduled to take place in Cairo, Egypt, will officially begin the qualification campaign for the continent’s premier football tournament, which will be jointly hosted by Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda.

In a statement published on its official website, Confederation of African Football said 48 countries would participate in the qualifiers and be divided into 12 groups of four teams each.

“The draw officially launches the next phase of the journey towards a tournament CAF hopes will unite an entire region under the spirit of ‘PAMOJA’ — the Swahili word for ‘together’,” the governing body stated.

The competition, officially branded “AFCON PAMOJA 2027,” will mark the first time in the tournament’s history that three nations will co-host the event.

Scheduled to run from June 19 to July 17, 2027, the championship will also signal the return of the Africa Cup of Nations to East Africa for the first time since Ethiopia hosted the tournament in 1976.

According to CAF, the top two teams from each qualifying group will automatically secure places at the finals. However, because the three host nations have already qualified, only one additional team will advance from each of their respective groups.

The qualification series will be played during three FIFA international windows between September 2026 and March 2027.

Matchdays one and two are scheduled to take place between September 21 and October 6, 2026, while rounds three and four will hold from November 9 to 17, 2026. The final qualification fixtures are billed for March 22 to 30, 2027.

Traditional African football powers including Senegal national football team, Morocco national football team, Egypt national football team, Algeria national football team, Cameroon national football team, Ivory Coast national football team and South Africa national football team are all expected to compete strongly for qualification alongside Nigeria.

CAF also noted that recent qualification campaigns have demonstrated the increasing competitiveness of African football, with emerging nations such as Comoros and Gambia narrowing the gap on traditional heavyweights.

Beyond football, CAF said the 2027 tournament is expected to drive infrastructure development, tourism growth and regional cooperation across East Africa, while showcasing the culture and sporting passion of the host nations.