The Confederation of African Football (CAF) is set to officially kick off the qualification campaign for the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations with a preliminary round draw scheduled for Thursday, January 15, 2026, at 12:00 GMT. The draw will be broadcast live on CAF TV.

This marks the first formal step on the road to the 2027 AFCON finals, which will be jointly hosted by Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania.

The preliminary round is reserved for the 12 lowest-ranked African nations based on the latest FIFA World Rankings, while the remaining 42 countries automatically advance to the group stage of the qualifiers.

The teams involved in this opening phase are Lesotho, Burundi, Ethiopia, Eswatini, South Sudan, Mauritius, Chad, São Tomé and Príncipe, Djibouti, Somalia, Seychelles, and Eritrea.
To ensure balance, CAF has split the teams into two pots according to their rankings.

Pot 1 consists of the higher-ranked nations—Lesotho, Burundi, Ethiopia, Eswatini, South Sudan, and Mauritius—while Pot 2 contains Chad, São Tomé and Príncipe, Djibouti, Somalia, Seychelles, and Eritrea.

Each team from Pot 1 will be drawn against a team from Pot 2 to form six two-legged ties. The lower-ranked side in each pairing will host the first leg, adding extra tension to the opening encounters.

The six winners from this round will progress to the group stage draw, where they will join the 42 seeded nations, intensifying the race toward qualification for the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations.