Nigeria’s will officially discover their opponents for the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifiers on Tuesday as the Confederation of African Football (CAF) conducts the official draw in Cairo, Egypt.
The draw is scheduled to hold on Tuesday, May 19, 2026, ahead of the tournament which will be jointly hosted by Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda.
Tagged AFCON PAMOJA 2027, the competition will become the first AFCON tournament in history to be co-hosted by three countries. The finals are expected to run from June 19 to July 17, 2027.
According to CAF, 48 national teams, including the three host nations, will participate in the qualification series. The teams will be divided into 12 groups of four, with the top two teams from each group qualifying automatically for the tournament. However, because Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda have already secured automatic qualification as hosts, only one additional team will qualify from each of their groups.
Nigeria heads into the qualifiers as one of Africa’s top-ranked teams and is expected to be among the seeded nations during the draw. The Super Eagles are three-time African champions, having won the tournament in 1980, 1994, and 2013.
The qualification matches will be played across FIFA international windows between September 2026 and March 2027 as teams battle for places at Africa’s biggest football tournament.