Overview:
With CAF President Patrice Motsepe confirming that the tournament won’t be postponed, AFCON 2027 finals will be staged from 19 June to 17 July 2027 and will mark the return of Africa's flagship football competition to East Africa for the first time since Ethiopia hosted the tournament in 1976.
The long-awaited journey to the 2027 TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations Pamoja begins as nations seek qualification for the first ever tournament to be co-hosted by Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda.
Officially, the group stage matches of the qualifiers get underway this Thursday September 24 and run until Tuesday October 6 with two match days to be completed in this extended international break.
Forty-eight nations are in action including the three co-hosts with 24 matches set to be played across 12 groups
With CAF President Patrice Motsepe confirming that the tournament won’t be postponed, AFCON 2027 finals will be staged from 19 June to 17 July 2027 and will mark the return of Africa’s flagship football competition to East Africa for the first time since Ethiopia hosted the tournament in 1976.
After covering all the six match days, the first two teams in each group will qualify, except in Groups D, H and L, where Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania are automatically qualified and only the highest-ranked team outside the respective host nation will advance.
Following Matchdays 1 and 2, the campaign will resume from 9-17 November, before the final two rounds are played from 22-30 March 2027.
TotalEnergies CAF AFCON PAMOJA 2027 Qualifiers – Matchday 1 Fixtures
Thursday, 24 September 2026 – All times EAT
- Group G: Namibia vs Congo – 4pm
- Group E: DR Congo vs Equatorial Guinea – 7pm
- Group F: Mauritania vs Central African Republic – 7pm
- Group H: Libya vs Botswana – 7pm
- Group C: Côte d’Ivoire vs Ghana – 10pm
- Group E: Sierra Leone vs Zimbabwe – 10pm
- Group G: Cameroon vs Comoros – 10pm
- Group H: Tunisia vs Uganda – 10pm
Friday, 25 September 2026 – All times EAT
- Group L: Tanzania vs Guinea-Bissau – 4pm
- Group A: Niger vs Lesotho – 6pm
- Group B: Malawi vs South Sudan – 7pm
- Group C: The Gambia vs Somalia – 7pm
- Group I: Togo vs Burundi – 7pm
- Group J: Sudan vs Ethiopia – 7pm
- Group K: Rwanda vs Liberia – 7pm
- Group L: Nigeria vs Madagascar – 7pm
- Group A: Morocco vs Gabon – 10pm
- Group B: Egypt vs Angola – 10pm
- Group F: Burkina Faso vs Benin – 10pm
- Group I: Algeria vs Zambia – 10pm
- Group J: Senegal vs Mozambique – 10pm
- Group K: Mali vs Cape Verde – 10pm
Saturday, 26 September 2026 – All times EAT
- Group D: Kenya vs Eritrea – 4pm
- Group D: South Africa vs Guinea – 7pm
