The road to the 2027 CAF U-23 Africa Cup of Nations in Egypt has officially begun, with the first-round qualifying pairings now confirmed.
A total of 28 nations will battle across 14 first-round ties for the opportunity to advance to the second round of the qualifiers.
The first-leg matches are scheduled for 20 September, with the return fixtures set for 6 October, as the young national teams begin their campaigns to secure a place at the continental tournament.
The first-round draw has produced the following fixtures:
- ๐ธ๐ฑ Sierra Leone vs Burkina Faso ๐ง๐ซ
- ๐ฒ๐ท Mauritania vs DR Congo ๐จ๐ฉ
- ๐ธ๐น Sรฃo Tomรฉ and Prรญncipe vs Equatorial Guinea ๐ฌ๐ถ
- ๐น๐ฌ Togo vs Libya ๐ฑ๐พ
- ๐น๐ณ Tunisia vs Benin ๐ง๐ฏ
- ๐ฐ๐ช Kenya vs Tanzania ๐น๐ฟ
- ๐ฉ๐ฏ Djibouti vs South Sudan ๐ธ๐ธ
- ๐ช๐น Ethiopia vs Uganda ๐บ๐ฌ
- ๐ท๐ผ Rwanda vs Sudan ๐ธ๐ฉ
- ๐ฐ๐ฒ Comoros vs Madagascar ๐ฒ๐ฌ
- ๐ฆ๐ด Angola vs Namibia ๐ณ๐ฆ
- ๐ธ๐จ Seychelles vs Botswana ๐ง๐ผ
- ๐ฒ๐ผ Malawi vs Eswatini ๐ธ๐ฟ
- ๐ฟ๐ผ Zimbabwe vs Mauritius ๐ฒ๐บ
The winners of these 14 ties will progress to the second round, where they will face the 14 exempted teams, including Ghana, Nigeria, Morocco, Mali, South Africa, Cรดte dโIvoire, Algeria, Cameroon, Senegal, Niger, Gabon, Zambia, Congo and Guinea.
Ghana, one of the exempted nations, will face the winner of the Togo-Libya tie in the second round.
The first round therefore represents the opening hurdle for 28 nations, with only 14 emerging victorious to continue their journey towards Egypt.
The road to the U-23 AFCON Egypt 2027 is officially underway. ๐ช๐ฌ๐
