In a surprising development for African football, Eritrea has been included in the preliminary qualifying round draw for the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) despite holding an unranked status with world governing body FIFA. The East African nation, which has participated in just two international matches since February 2020, will face Eswatini in the preliminary stage.
This inclusion comes despite Eritrea’s recent history of tournament withdrawals, having pulled out of qualifiers for both the 2023 Afcon and the 2026 FIFA World Cup. The latter withdrawal occurred just one week before their scheduled match against Morocco, Africa’s top-ranked team.
The preliminary round draw, conducted in Rabat ahead of the 2025 Afcon semi-finals, paired several other nations: Djibouti with South Sudan, Chad with Burundi, Somalia with Mauritius, Seychelles with Lesotho, and Sao Tome e Principe with Ethiopia, the 1962 champions.
These two-legged qualifying ties are scheduled for late March, with the six victorious teams advancing to join the continent’s 42 highest-ranked sides in the main group stage. The Confederation of African Football has yet to announce specific dates for both the 2027 Afcon qualifiers and the tournament itself, which will be jointly hosted by Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda.
Eritrea’s international football history remains marked by their last Afcon qualifying campaign ahead of the 2008 finals and a notable incident in October 2015 when ten players claimed asylum in Botswana following a World Cup qualifier.