2027 AFCON Qualifiers: DR Congo Tighten Grip as Equatorial Guinea, Burkina Faso Claim Crucial Wins
The race for places at the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations gathered momentum on Monday as DR Congo, Equatorial Guinea and Burkina Faso secured important victories, while Tunisia and Botswana shared the spoils in a four-goal thriller.
With the qualification series being contested across 12 groups, Monday’s results produced significant early developments, particularly in Groups E and F, while the situation in Group H remained finely balanced.
DR Congo Maintain Perfect Start
DR Congo strengthened their position at the summit of Group E with a 2-1 away victory over Zimbabwe in Harare.
Yoane Wissa opened the scoring in the 30th minute before turning provider for Samuel Moutoussamy, who doubled the visitors’ advantage in first-half stoppage time.
Zimbabwe reduced the deficit through Marshall Munetsi in the closing stages, but DR Congo held on to secure maximum points.
The result gives DR Congo six points from their opening two matches after they began their campaign with a 2-0 victory over Equatorial Guinea.
Zimbabwe remain on three points, level with Equatorial Guinea, while Sierra Leone are still searching for their first point.
Zúñiga Gives Equatorial Guinea Lifeline
Equatorial Guinea revived their campaign with a narrow 1-0 victory over Sierra Leone.
Loren Zúñiga scored the decisive goal inside the opening minute as Equatorial Guinea secured their first three points of the campaign.
The victory moves Equatorial Guinea onto three points and keeps them within touching distance of early Group E leaders DR Congo.
For Sierra Leone, the defeat compounds a difficult start. The Leone Stars have now lost both of their opening matches, following their 3-2 defeat to Zimbabwe, leaving them bottom of the group without a point.
Burkina Faso Move Top of Group F
Burkina Faso also strengthened their qualification prospects after edging the Central African Republic 1-0.
Aboubacar Camara scored the only goal in the 60th minute to give the Stallions their first victory of the campaign.
After opening with a 1-1 draw against Benin, Burkina Faso now have four points from two matches and sit at the top of Group F.
Central African Republic, meanwhile, remain without a point after two defeats, leaving them under early pressure in the group.
Tunisia, Botswana Share Four-Goal Thriller
Tunisia and Botswana played out a 2-2 draw in Group H, with neither side able to secure a first victory of the campaign.
Botswana took the lead before Tunisia turned the contest around, only for the visitors to fight back and earn a share of the points.
The result leaves both teams on two points after two matches, ensuring that Group H remains wide open.
Group L Takes Centre Stage
Attention now turns to Tuesday’s second round of fixtures, with Nigeria’s meeting against Guinea-Bissau carrying particular significance.
Both teams began their campaigns with victories. Nigeria recovered from conceding first to defeat Madagascar 2-1 in Uyo, with George Ilenikhena and Moses Usor scoring the goals.
Guinea-Bissau, meanwhile, opened their campaign with a 2-0 victory over Tanzania.
With Tanzania already guaranteed a place at the 2027 AFCON finals as one of the three co-hosts, only one additional qualifying ticket is available from Group L.
That makes Tuesday’s encounter in Bissau an important early confrontation between two sides already sitting on three points.
A victory would give either Nigeria or Guinea-Bissau a valuable advantage in the race for the group’s sole qualifying berth.
The Super Eagles will face Guinea-Bissau at the Estádio 24 de Setembro in Bissau at 5pm Nigerian time.
Tuesday’s Key Fixtures
The Matchday Two programme continues with 17 fixtures across the continent:
Lesotho vs Morocco — 2pm
South Sudan vs Egypt — 2pm
Burundi vs Algeria — 2pm
Ethiopia vs Senegal — 2pm
Mozambique vs Sudan — 2pm
Madagascar vs Tanzania — 2pm
Ghana vs Gambia — 5pm
Uganda vs Libya — 5pm
Zambia vs Togo — 5pm
Cape Verde vs Rwanda — 5pm
Guinea-Bissau vs Nigeria — 5pm
Gabon vs Niger — 8pm
Somalia vs Côte d’Ivoire — 8pm
Benin Republic vs Mauritania — 8pm
Congo vs Cameroon — 8pm
Liberia vs Mali — 8pm
Comoros vs Namibia — 12 noon
The 2027 Africa Cup of Nations finals are scheduled to take place in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda from June 19 to July 17, 2027.
