CAF Launches 2027 AFCON Qualifiers with 48 Teams Competing

The qualification process for the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) has commenced, involving 48 national teams vying for 21 available spots. Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda are the co-hosts and automatically qualify for the tournament.

Despite this, they will still participate in the qualifying rounds. The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has structured the qualification campaign to include a 48-team group stage, but only 21 additional places are available due to the hosts' automatic qualification.

The qualification format includes 12 groups, with the top two teams from most groups qualifying for the finals. However, in groups containing a host nation, only the highest-ranked team apart from the host will qualify.

The preliminary qualifying round involved 12 lower-ranked teams, with South Sudan, Burundi, Somalia, Lesotho, Eritrea, and Ethiopia advancing to the main qualifying stage, which was drawn on May 19.