AFCON 2027: Super Eagles in tricky  group with Madagascar, Tanzania, Guinea Bissau

Nigeria will tango with familiar foes and joint-hosts Tanzania, Madagascar and Guinea Bissau in the race for qualification to AFCON 2027, to be jointly hosted by Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. Tuesday’s draw at the Egyptian Football Association headquarters in Cairo slotted 48 teams into 12 groups of four, with the top two finishers in each pool booking their place at the finals scheduled for June 19 – July 17, 2027.

The Super Eagles have been here before with Madagascar. Nigeria swept them home and away during the 2012 AFCON qualifying campaign, and Eric Chelle’s  men will be expected to replicate that dominance when the two sides meet again.

Guinea Bissau bring a more complicated history. The two sides crossed paths in the race to the 2023 AFCON finals in Cote d’Ivoire with honours shared — Guinea Bissau claimed a famous win in Abuja before Nigeria hit back to take maximum points in Bissau. Expect fireworks in both fixtures.

Tanzania, meanwhile, enter as co-hosts with a point to prove. Nigeria and the Taifa Stars were pooled together for the 2017 AFCON qualifiers, playing out a goalless stalemate in Dar es Salaam before a narrow 1-0 Super Eagles win in Uyo — courtesy of a thunderous long-range finish from Kelechi Iheanacho.

Yet the Super Eagles  must also take careful note of a critical small print in Group L. Because Tanzania are co-hosts and already guaranteed a place at the finals, only the highest-placed non-host side in the group earns automatic qualification. The Super Eagles cannot afford slip-ups as every point counts.

Matches will be played across three windows: September 21 to October 6, 2025; November 9 to 17, 2025; and March 22 to 30, 2026, with each team playing two matches per window — six qualifying games in total.

Elsewhere, seven-time champions Egypt face Angola, Malawi and South Sudan in Group B, while five-time champions Cameroon navigate a tricky pool containing Comoros, Namibia and Congo in Group G. Morocco, fresh from hosting the first-ever AFCON to span two calendar years — 2025 and 2026 — open their qualifying campaign against Gabon, Niger and Lesotho in Group A.

THE FULL DRAW:

Group A: Morocco, Gabon, Niger, Lesotho.

 Group B: Egypt, Angola, Malawi, South Sudan.

 Group C: Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Gambia, Somalia.

Group D: South Africa, Guinea, Kenya (host), 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 (host), Libya, Botswana.

 Group I: Algeria, Zambia, Togo, Burundi.

Group J: Senegal, Mozambique, Sudan, Ethiopia.

Group K: Mali, Cape Verde, Rwanda, Liberia.

 Group L: Nigeria, Tanzania (host), Madagascar, Guinea Bissau.