COSAFA sides ready for TotalEnergies CAF AFCON 2027 Preliminary Round Qualifiers

The Confédération Africaine de Football (CAF) will stage the draw for the Preliminary Round of the TotalEnergies CAF Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) 2027 Qualifiers in Rabat, Morocco on Tuesday, 13 January 2026, and has outlined the procedures that will take place.

The draw will be live on CAF TV from 13h00 local time (12h00 GMT / 14h00 Cairo time) and begin the journey to the next continental finals, which will be co-hosted by Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania.

A total of 12 teams will take part in the Preliminary Round, which contains the lower placed sides in the latest FIFA World Rankings, while the remaining 42 nations have qualified directly for the group stage of the qualifiers.

The 12 teams, in ranking order, are Lesotho, Burundi, Ethiopia, Eswatini, South Sudan, Mauritius, Chad, São Tomé and Príncipe, Djibouti, Somalia, Seychelles and Eritrea.

Structure of the preliminary round
The preliminary round will see the 12 teams divided into two Pots. The six highest-ranked teams in Pot 1 will face the six lowest-ranked teams in Pot 2, with the first leg of each tie played at the home venue of the lower-ranked team.

Pot 1 (Highest Ranked Teams)
Lesotho, Burundi, Ethiopia, Eswatini, South Sudan, Mauritius

Pot 2 (Lowest Ranked Teams)
Chad, São Tomé and Príncipe, Djibouti, Somalia, Seychelles, Eritrea

Draw mechanics
The first team drawn from Pot 1 will play against the first team drawn from Pot 2, with the same procedure repeated until all six pairings have been determined.

Following the conclusion of the preliminary round, the six winning teams will advance to join the 42 highest-ranked nations in the draw for the Group Stage matches of the TotalEnergies CAF AFCON 2027 Qualifiers.