Tangiers, Morocco: After six long years on the sidelines, Eritrea is finally set to step back onto the international football stage.
The Red Sea nation will face Eswatini in a high-stakes, two-legged clash in the preliminary round of the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers this March a comeback match that has fans and football insiders buzzing.
Eritrea has been absent from competitive football since a friendly defeat to Sudan in January 2020. The team had pulled out of World Cup and AFCON qualifiers for years after waves of players defected while on away trips, leaving the squad depleted and the nation off the international radar.
Since independence from Ethiopia in 1993, Eritrea has been ruled by President Isaias Afwerki, whose administration is often described by human rights organizations as highly repressive.
Over the past decade, nearly 80 players and staff have defected during international tournaments from Angola (2007) to Kenya (2009), Tanzania (2011), Uganda (2012), Botswana (2015), and again in Uganda (2019) with none continuing professional careers abroad.
Following the 2019 defection of the under-20 squad in Uganda, Eritrea barred national teams from traveling abroad. Now, the country seems ready to rebuild its footballing reputation and rejoin continental competition. Eritrea had previously entered the last AFCON preliminaries but withdrew before kickoff.
If Eritrea plays in March, it will be the first AFCON qualifiers to feature all 54 African nations. The six lowest-ranked teams were drawn into knockout ties, with winners advancing to the group stage alongside Africa’s 42 top-ranked sides.
The 12 groups of four will battle it out, with the top two from each group moving to the finals except in groups with already-qualified co-hosts Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda.
Currently, Eritrea remains unranked by FIFA, having not played an official match in over four years but this return promises to put Eritrean football back in the spotlight.
