CAF has appointed the referees for several of the biggest second-round matches in the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers, including Morocco’s trip to Lesotho, Egypt’s meeting with South Sudan and Algeria’s clash with Burundi.
The Confederation of African Football (CAF) Referees Committee has confirmed the officials who will oversee the second round of qualifying matches for the tournament, which will be hosted by Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda from 19 June to 17 July 2027.
The second round begins next week, with a number of Arab and African teams facing important fixtures as the qualifying campaign continues.
Morocco will travel to Lesotho on 29 September for a match scheduled to begin at 13:00 GMT. On the same day, Uganda will host Libya in Kampala, while Botswana will face Tunisia in Gaborone.
Algeria will also be away from home when they visit Burundi in Bujumbura on 29 September, with the match scheduled for 13:00 GMT.
Egypt are due to face South Sudan in the capital Juba, while Eritrea will meet South Africa at Cairo’s Al Salam Stadium on 30 September at 16:00 GMT. Eritrea have been unable to stage their matches at home, resulting in the fixture being moved to Egypt.
According to winwin sources within CAF, the refereeing appointments for the prominent matches have now been finalised.
A Cameroonian team led by referee Abdou Mferi will take charge of the Lesotho-Morocco encounter.
The South Sudan-Egypt match has been assigned to a Mauritian refereeing team headed by Ahmed Imtiaz Heeralall, while Guinean officials led by Abdoulaye Manette will oversee Uganda’s meeting with Libya.
A Tanzanian refereeing team, led by Ahmed Ali, will handle the Botswana-Tunisia match.
The Burundi-Algeria fixture will be officiated by a Botswana team headed by Thapping Ket Shabelle.
CAF has also appointed officials for other notable second-round matches. Senegalese referee Issa Sy will take charge of Gabon’s match against Niger, while Moroccan referee Jalal Jiyed will lead the team assigned to the Ghana-Gambia encounter.
Two Egyptian refereeing teams have also been selected for matches in the round.
International referee Mohamed Maarouf has been appointed for Guinea Conakry’s match against Kenya, while Amin Omar will oversee Zimbabwe’s meeting with DR Congo.
The group stage of the qualifiers begins on 24 September and runs until 6 October. A total of 24 matches will be played across 12 groups during the opening stages of the campaign, with 48 teams involved in the qualifying competition.
The teams have been divided into 12 groups of four, with the qualifying campaign consisting of six rounds.
The top two teams from each group will normally advance to the finals. However, a different qualification arrangement applies to Groups D, H and L because Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania have already secured places as host nations.
In those groups, only the highest-ranked qualifying team from each group will advance alongside the host nations.
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After the opening two rounds, the qualifiers will resume between 9 and 17 November. The final two rounds are scheduled to take place from 22 to 30 March 2027 as teams continue their bid to reach the tournament in East Africa.
