DRC, Ivory Coast and Morocco set to book tickets in 24-team event

The first teams to book a place in next year’s Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) finals could be confirmed after the latest rounds of qualifiers, which get under way on Thursday.

The Democratic Republic of Congo, Ivory Coast and Morocco, who were all at the World Cup, lead the list of teams fancied to continue a 100% start to preliminaries for the 2027 finals co-hosted by Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda from June 19 to July 17.

With two teams to qualify from all but three of the 12 groups, the Congolese, Ivorians and Moroccans will secure their places at the 24-team finals with wins in their respective ties over the next seven days.

DRC face Sierra Leone, Morocco meet Niger, and Ivory Coast take on Gambia, who upset Ghana in Group C in September in one of several shock results at the start of the campaign.

It is a vital juncture for Ghana, who went to this year’s World Cup but missed out on the last Afconin Morocco after a calamitous qualifying campaign and now face the threat of doing the same again in the next edition.

The Black Stars started this campaign with a defeat to the Ivorians, then suffered a shock home setback against Gambia, conceding four goals and leading to the departure of veteran Portuguese coach Carlos Queiroz.

Kim Lars Bjorkegren, the 44-year-old Swede who manages Ghana’s women’s team, has replaced him on a caretaker basis while a successor for Queiroz is sought.

Ghana, with captain Jordan Ayew and Mohammed Kudus back from injury but Antoine Semenyo still out, take on Somalia in successive qualifiers at home in Sekondi on Thursday and Monday.

The Somalis have ceded home advantage because they lack an international-standard stadium.

Nigeria are another continental heavyweight in peril after an embarrassing 3-0 loss in Guinea Bissau in their last Group L encounter and must register a double win over Tanzania when they meet in Uyo on Friday and Dar es Salaam next Tuesday.

Failure to qualify for the World Cup has already cost officials their jobs in Nigeria’s football administration, but missing out on Afcon, where they were semifinalists last time, would be a major blow for the Super Eagles. – Reuters