CAF FIXES AFCON 2027 DATES, SETS QUALIFIERS TIMELINE

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The Confederation of African Football has announced that the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations will kick off on June 19 and end on July 17, 2027, in a historic tournament to be co-hosted by Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda.

CAF disclosed in a statement issued on Saturday that the dates were approved by the FIFA Council at its recent meeting in Vancouver, Canada. The continental body added that the specific host venues for the opening match and the final will be announced at a later date.

The 2027 edition will be the first AFCON to be hosted by three countries, a move CAF said is expected to extend the competition’s reach to more than 400 million people across the East African region.

On the qualification process, CAF confirmed that the preliminary round has been completed, while the draw for the qualifiers is scheduled for May 19, 2026. A total of 48 teams, including the three host nations, will take part in the qualifiers.

According to CAF, the teams will be drawn into 12 groups of four, with the top two sides from each group advancing to the final tournament.

The qualifiers will be played during three FIFA international windows. Matchdays one and two are fixed for September 21 to October 6, 2026, while matchdays three and four will hold from November 9 to 17, 2026. The final round of matches, matchdays five and six, will take place from March 22 to 30, 2027.

CAF noted that the 2027 tournament marks a return of the competition to East Africa for the first time since Ethiopia hosted it in 1976. It added that the edition is expected to build on the commercial and global broadcast success recorded in recent tournaments such as Côte d’Ivoire 2023 and Morocco 2025, reflecting the growing appeal of African football worldwide.

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