Eritrea's national football team is set to end an 18-year absence from the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifiers, facing Eswatini (formerly Swaziland) in the Moroccan city of Meknes for the first leg of the preliminary round for the 2027 tournament. The match has been relocated from East Africa to North Africa due to Eritrea's lack of an international-standard stadium, highlighting infrastructural challenges in the region.
Eritrea last participated in AFCON in 2008 and has since missed nine subsequent tournaments. Football officials have never formally explained the prolonged hiatus, but it is widely attributed to players seeking asylum while competing abroad. The United Nations estimates that approximately 80 footballers and coaches have defected, citing political repression and lengthy mandatory military service as primary reasons for their departure, underscoring broader human rights concerns in the country.
Eritrean National Football Federation President Paulos Andemariam announced the end of isolation in Morocco ahead of AFCON 2025, stating, "After positive discussions with our government, we have registered to play in AFCON 2027, and I believe we will have a strong team, including many Eritreans playing outside Africa." The team has undergone a coaching change, with local head coach Ermias Tewelde replaced by Hesham Yakan, a former defender for Egypt's Zamalek club and a member of Egypt's 1990 World Cup squad, signaling a strategic shift to leverage international experience.
Eritrea's 24-man squad includes 10 local players and Eritreans based in Australia, Egypt, England, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, the Philippines, and Sweden. Key players like Siem Eyob-Abraha of English club Sheffield United and Egypt-based striker Ali Sulieman are expected to start against Eswatini. However, Eritrea faces significant challenges, including a lack of match practice—their last competitive international was a World Cup qualifying defeat in Namibia seven years ago, leading to their omission from FIFA's national team rankings. Eswatini, ranked 159th globally, has failed in all 16 previous AFCON qualification attempts and recently appointed Sifiso Ntibane as coach after a poor World Cup qualifying campaign.
The preliminary round features five other ties, with Djibouti, Seychelles, Lesotho, and Sao Tome e Principe also unable to host home matches due to inadequate stadiums, reflecting widespread infrastructural issues in African football. Somalia has moved its first leg against Mauritius to Maputo, Mozambique, due to security concerns. The 2027 AFCON tournament will be co-hosted by Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda, with dates yet to be announced, as the continent prepares for another edition of its premier football competition.
Source: www.aljazeera.com