Teams from the Council of East and Central Africa Football Associations (CECAFA) Zone, Djibouti and South Sudan, will face each other in the preliminary round of the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifiers.

The draw for the preliminary stage was conducted on January 13 in Rabat, Morocco, featuring 12 lower-ranked nations based on the FIFA rankings. The winners of these ties will progress to the group phase of the qualification campaign.

Hosts Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania have already secured automatic qualification for the TotalEnergies CAF AFCON 2027, which will be jointly staged in East Africa.

In other preliminary-round matchups, Eritrea — returning to AFCON qualifiers after several years away — will take on Eswatini, while Ethiopia have been paired against São Tomé and Príncipe. Burundi will face Chad, Somalia will battle Mauritius, and Seychelles are set to meet Lesotho.

According to the Confederation of African Football (CAF), the preliminary round fixtures will be played over two legs during the FIFA international window scheduled for March 25–31, 2026.

The six winners from the preliminary round will advance to join the remaining 42 CAF Member Associations in the group stage of the AFCON 2027 qualifiers.

Preliminary Round Fixtures:

Djibouti vs South Sudan

Chad vs Burundi

Somalia vs Mauritius

Seychelles vs Lesotho

Eritrea vs Eswatini

São Tomé & Príncipe vs Ethiopia