AFCON 2027 qualifiers: Super Eagles battle Madagascar, Tanzania and Guinea Bissau 

By Amaechi Agbo

Nigeria will tango with familiar foes and joint-hosts Tanzania, Madagascar and Guinea Bissau in the race for qualification to next summer’s Africa Cup of Nations finals to be jointly-hosted by Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. The four teams are in Group L.

Tuesday afternoon’s draw at the Egyptian Football Association headquarters in Cairo slotted the 48 teams into 12 groups of four teams each, with the two top-placed teams in each pool advancing to the finals scheduled for 19th June – 17th July next year.

Nigeria defeated Madagascar home and away in the qualifying series for the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations, and shared honours with Guinea Bissau in the race to the 2023 AFCON finals that were held in Cote d’Ivoire. Guinea Bissau won in Abuja while the Super Eagles took the full points in Bissau.

Tanzania was in the same qualifying pool with Nigeria in the race to the 2017 AFCON. Both teams played a scoreless draw in Dar es Salaam before Nigeria won 1-0 in Uyo through a Kelechi Iheanacho long-range blast.

Morocco’s Atlas Lions, who hosted the last finals that was the first-ever to span across two different years (2025 and 2026), will tackle Gabon, Niger Republic and Lesotho in Group A.

Seven-time champions Egypt face Angola, Malawi and South Sudan in Group B, while five-time champions Cameroon must deal with a tricky pool that contains Comoros, Namibia and Congo.

ALL THE GROUPS:

A: Morocco, Gabon, Niger Republic, Lesotho

B: Egypt, Angola, Malawi, South Sudan

C: Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, The Gambia, Somalia,

D: South Africa, Guinea, Kenya, Eritrea

E: DR Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Sierra Leone, Zimbabwe

F: Burkina Faso, Benin Republic, Mauritania, Central Africa Republic

G: Cameroon, Comoros, Namibia, Congo

H: Tunisia, Uganda, Libya, Botswana

I: Algeria, Zambia, Togo, Burundi

J: Senegal, Mozambique, Sudan, Ethiopia

K: Mali, Cape Verde, Rwanda, Liberia

L: Nigeria, Madagascar, Tanzania, Guinea Biss