The road to the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations has officially begun, with 48 nations battling for 21 available places in a tournament that will make history by being staged across three East African countries.
Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda have already secured their places as co-hosts of the 36th edition of the continental championship. Their automatic qualification means the remaining teams must compete for the other 21 spots through a 12-group qualifying campaign.
Officially known as the TotalEnergies CAF AFCON PAMOJA 2027, the tournament takes its name from the Swahili word “Pamoja,” meaning “together.” It will be the first AFCON edition jointly hosted by three countries.
Hosts Secure Their Places
The three hosts will not have to depend on their performances in the qualifying competition to reach the finals.
Tanzania, regarded as the lead host, will stage matches at Dar es Salaam’s Benjamin Mkapa Stadium, while Kenya will host key fixtures at Nairobi’s Talanta Stadium. Uganda will welcome matches at Kampala’s Mandela National Stadium.
Although already guaranteed places at the finals, the three countries are participating in the qualifying campaign, creating a different qualification structure in the groups containing the hosts.
How the 21 Remaining Places Will Be Decided
CAF has retained the 24-team format used for the final tournament. With three places already occupied by the hosts, 21 teams must qualify through the group stage.
The 48 participating nations have been divided into 12 groups, labelled A through L.
In the nine groups without a host nation, the top two teams will qualify automatically. This will produce 18 qualifiers.
The remaining three places will come from Groups D, H and L, which contain Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania respectively. Since the host in each of these groups already has an automatic place, only the highest-finishing non-host team will qualify from each group.
The arrangement means every one of the 21 available places will ultimately be decided through competitive qualification.
For African football, the campaign represents the beginning of a long race toward mid-2027, when the continent’s best teams will converge in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda for an unprecedented three-country AFCON.
