AFCON 2027 Qualification Draw Looms as Harambee Stars and 47 Other National Teams Await Their Fate

The journey to the 2027 TotalEnergies CAF Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) is set to begin in earnest, with 48 nations, including Harambee Stars, eagerly anticipating the group stage qualification draw.

The event, scheduled for Tuesday, May 19, in Cairo, will map out the path for both continental powerhouses and emerging teams dreaming of a spot in the prestigious tournament.

The draw will be conducted at the Egyptian Football Association headquarters at 15:00 local time (12:00 GMT) and will be broadcast live on CAF TV.

Dubbed "PAMOJA 2027," the tournament will be co-hosted by Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania, with the finals scheduled to run from June 19 to July 17, 2027.

As host nations, all three are guaranteed a place in the finals. Consequently, only one other team will qualify from each of their respective groups.

The qualification process is already underway, following a dramatic preliminary round that saw the continent's lowest-ranked teams battle over two legs.

South Sudan, Burundi, Somalia, Lesotho, Eritrea, and Ethiopia successfully navigated these initial ties to join the 42 top-ranked nations in the group stage draw. These 48 teams will be divided into 12 groups of four. The top two teams from each group will secure automatic qualification for the finals in East Africa.

The qualifying matches are scheduled across three international windows:

Matchdays 1 & 2: September 21 - October 6, 2026 Matchdays 3 & 4: November 9 - 17, 2026 Matchdays 5 & 6: March 22 - 30, 2027

While traditional giants like Senegal, Nigeria, Egypt, and Morocco are expected to be strong contenders, recent tournaments have shown that upsets are increasingly common. Nations such as the Central African Republic, Chad, Eritrea, Somalia, and South Sudan will be aiming to make history by qualifying for their first-ever AFCON finals.

With the growing competitiveness of African football, there are fewer easy matches than ever before. The home-and-away format means that away results and goal difference could be decisive in what are expected to be several tightly contested groups.

Algeria, Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, DR Congo, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.