The Uganda Cranes will today discover their opponents for the TotalEnergies CAF Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) PAMOJA 2027 qualifiers during the official draw to be held in Cairo, Egypt.
The draw ceremony is scheduled to take place at the headquarters of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) starting at 3pm local time (12pm GMT) and will be broadcast live on CAF TV.
Uganda heads into the qualification campaign as one of the co-hosts of the historic AFCON PAMOJA 2027 tournament, which will be jointly staged by Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania from June 19 to July 17, 2027. The tournament will mark the first time in history that Africa’s premier football competition is hosted by three nations.
Although the East African co-hosts have already secured automatic qualification for the finals, Uganda Cranes will still participate in the qualifiers as part of preparations for the continental showpiece.
A total of 48 nations will compete in the qualification campaign, with teams set to be drawn into 12 groups. In the regular groups, the top two teams will qualify for the finals. However, groups involving the three host nations will only produce one additional qualified team because Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania are already guaranteed slots at the tournament.
The qualification phase will feature some of Africa’s football heavyweights including Senegal, Morocco, Egypt, Nigeria, Algeria, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Ghana, and South Africa.
The preliminary round already saw South Sudan, Burundi, Somalia, Lesotho, Eritrea, and Ethiopia progress to join the continent’s top-ranked nations in the group stage.
CAF has scheduled the opening two matchdays for the FIFA international window running from September 21 to October 6, 2026. Matchdays three and four will be played between November 9 and 17, while the final qualification fixtures are slated for March 22 to 30, 2027.
Today’s draw ceremony is also expected to feature several African football legends, including former Ivory Coast winger Max-Alain Gradel, Nigeria captain William Troost-Ekong, Egyptian goalkeeping icon Essam El Hadary, and DR Congo legend Trésor Mputu, who will assist with the draw proceedings.
