By Daily Sports Nigeria on January 13, 2026

The Confederation of African Football will conduct the draw for the preliminary round of the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers on Tuesday, officially beginning the road to the tournament, PUNCH Sports Extra reports.

CAF on Monday released the official pots for the teams involved in the preliminary stage, setting the framework for the opening fixtures of the qualification campaign.

Pot 1 includes Lesotho, Burundi, Ethiopia, Eswatini, South Sudan and Mauritius, while Pot 2 comprises Chad, São Tomé & Príncipe, Djibouti, Somalia, Seychelles and Eritrea.

According to CAF, each team in Pot 1 will be paired against a team from Pot 2, with the first leg to be hosted by the lower-ranked nation.

The ties will be decided over two legs, with the six winners from the preliminary round advancing to the group stage draw of the AFCON 2027 qualifiers.

The victorious teams will join Africa’s top 42-ranked nations in the race for a place at the continent’s premier football tournament.

The 2027 AFCON will be the 35th edition of the competition, with the host nation yet to be confirmed by CAF.

Nigeria, as one of Africa’s top-ranked nations, will not participate in the preliminary round and will be seeded directly into the group stage when that draw takes place.

The Super Eagles are currently competing at the 2025 AFCON in Morocco, where they have won all five matches to reach the semi-finals against hosts Morocco on Wednesday.

Source Punch Ng

Posted January 13, 2026

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