CAF announces key dates for 2027 AFCON
The Confederation of African Football have announced the key dates for the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations tournament that will be co-hosted by Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda.
The tournament is set to become the first AFCON to be hosted by three countries, presenting a unique opportunity for CAF and African football to reach over 400 million people in the East Africa region.
CAF announced the dates in a press release on their official website on Saturday.
With the Preliminary round completed, the journey to Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda will continue with the Draw for the Qualifiers of the TotalEnergies CAF AFCON PAMOJA 2027, which will take place on 19 May 2026.
The Opening Match will be played on Saturday, 19 June 2027 and the Final on Saturday, 17 July 2027.
A total of 48 Teams, including the three Co-Hosts, will participate in the Qualifiers. The teams will then be drawn into 12 groups of four teams each.
The top two teams in each group will qualify for the final tournament.
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The Qualifiers will be played across the three FIFA International Windows as follows:
The opening two matchdays are set for the period between September 21 and October 6, 2026.
The campaign will then resume for match day three and four from November 9 to November 17, 2026.
The decisive phase will take place between March 22 and March 30, 2027, when the final group standings will be confirmed.
The decision to host the tournament in the CECAFA region for the first time since 1976 is part of the Africa Cup of Nations’ 70th anniversary.
It will also be the last one to be held in odd-numbered years, as CAF announced in December 2025 that AFCON would become a quadrennial tournament from 2028 onwards.
