The road to AFCON 2027 is entering its main qualifying phase. After a preliminary round played in March, CAF placed 48 national teams into 12 groups of four to decide the remaining 21 places at the tournament, which will be co-hosted by Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda.
- Home >
- Soccer >
- Africa Cup of Nations Qualification >
- How Do the AFCON 2027 Qualifiers Work? Format, Groups and Qualification
How Do the AFCON 2027 Qualifiers Work? Format, Groups and Qualification
The main qualifying stage will feature 48 national teams divided into 12 groups. The top two will advance from most sections, but the system changes in groups containing the three host nations.
Watch every match of the AFCON 2027 Qualifiers LIVE on beIN SPORTS
How did the competition reach 48 teams?
Qualification began with a preliminary round involving the 12 lowest-ranked participating nations according to the ranking used by CAF. Those teams contested six home-and-away ties, with the six winners advancing to the group stage and joining the 42 nations that entered directly.
That created a 48-team main qualifying stage. Each national team will play six matches — three at home and three away — facing every group opponent twice. There are no knockout rounds after the group stage: final positions in each section determine who reaches the tournament.
The 12 qualifying groups
The draw produced the following sections:
Group A: Morocco, Gabon, Niger, Lesotho.
Group B: Egypt, Angola, Malawi, South Sudan.
Group C: Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, The Gambia, Somalia.
Group D: South Africa, Guinea, Kenya, Eritrea.
Group E: DR Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Sierra Leone, Zimbabwe.
Group F: Burkina Faso, Benin, Mauritania, Central African Republic.
Group G: Cameroon, Comoros, Namibia, Congo.
Group H: Tunisia, Uganda, Libya, Botswana.
Group I: Algeria, Zambia, Togo, Burundi.
Group J: Senegal, Mozambique, Sudan, Ethiopia.
Group K: Mali, Cape Verde, Rwanda, Liberia.
Group L: Nigeria, Madagascar, Tanzania, Guinea-Bissau.
How do teams qualify for AFCON 2027?
In nine of the 12 groups, the teams finishing first and second will qualify directly for the finals. That accounts for 18 places.
The exception involves Groups D, H and L. Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, respectively, are already guaranteed places at AFCON 2027 as co-hosts. Therefore, in each of those three groups, only the highest-placed team among the other three nations will also qualify, regardless of where the host finishes.
That produces 21 qualifiers from the group stage, who will join the three host nations to complete the 24-team final tournament.
When will qualification be decided?
The six matchdays are spread across three international windows. Matchdays 1 and 2 take place between September and October 2026, Matchdays 3 and 4 from November 9 to 17, and the final two rounds from March 22 to 30, 2027.
By the end of that final window, the full 24-team field will be known. AFCON 2027 itself will run from June 19 to July 17, 2027, across Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, the first three-country hosting arrangement in tournament history.
