The Zimbabwe Senior Men’s National Team, the Warriors, will learn their TotalEnergies CAF Africa Cup of Nations 2027 qualification opponents on Tuesday, 19 May 2026, when the official qualifiers draw is conducted in Cairo, Egypt.
The draw will take place at the Egyptian Football Association Headquarters at 15h00 local time, 12h00 GMT, and will determine the qualification pathway for teams seeking a place at the continental finals to be co-hosted by Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda.
A total of 48 teams, including the three co-hosts, will take part in the qualifiers. The teams will be drawn into 12 groups of four, with 24 nations set to qualify for Africa’s flagship football tournament.
The top two teams in each group will qualify for the finals. In groups that include one of the three co-hosts, one additional team will progress in line with the competition format. The 2027 AFCON finals are scheduled to run from Saturday, 19 June 2027, to Saturday, 17 July 2027.
The qualifiers will be played across three FIFA International Match Calendar windows. Matchdays 1 and 2 are scheduled for 21 September to 6 October 2026, followed by Matchdays 3 and 4 from 9 to 17 November 2026. The final round of fixtures, Matchdays 5 and 6, will be played from 22 to 30 March 2027.
For Zimbabwe, the draw will provide clarity on the opponents, fixture schedule and travel requirements for the qualification campaign. It will also enable ZIFA and the Warriors technical team to finalise preparations around logistics, player availability, match planning and overall campaign management.
ZIFA will continue working with the technical team and relevant stakeholders to ensure that the Warriors’ preparations are aligned with the demands of the qualification process. Tuesday’s draw will therefore mark the formal start of Zimbabwe’s road to the TotalEnergies CAF Africa Cup of Nations 2027.
