Eritrea national football team have withdrawn from taking part in the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers.

A statement published on the FIFA website confirmed: “FIFA and CAF can confirm that the Eritrean National Football Federation has withdrawn from the FIFA World Cup 2026 preliminary competition. Following Eritrea’s withdrawal, Group E of the CAF qualifiers will be contested by the five remaining teams: Morocco, Zambia, Congo, Tanzania and Niger.”

The statement added: “All of Eritrea’s matches have been cancelled, while the rest of the match schedule for Group E remains unchanged.”

Eritrea were due to kick off their campaign against Niger before taking on Zambia and then Congo.