Eritrea set for international football comeback after six-year absence

TANGIERS, Morocco—Eritrea is set to play its first international football game in more than six years after entering the preliminaries for the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations finals, to be played in March.

The isolated state on the Red Sea was drawn on Tuesday to take on Eswatini over two legs in the preliminary round in March, in what would be their first outing since a friendly loss to Sudan in January 2020.

Eritrea has not participated in any internationals since eschewing the opportunity to compete in World Cup and Cup of Nations qualification after players consistently defected while on away trips.

Eritrea has been ruled by President Isaias Afwerki since gaining independence from Ethiopia in 1993, and human rights groups consistently describe his rule as highly repressive.

Players and other team members defected after matches or tournaments in Angola in 2007, Kenya in 2009, Tanzania in 2011, Uganda in 2012, Botswana in 2015, following a World Cup qualifier, and Uganda again in 2019.

It is estimated some 80 footballers have defected while playing for the national team abroad, none of them going on to pursue their football careers in exile.

Eritrea has not allowed teams to travel outside the country since members of its under-20 side fled to Uganda in 2019, but now seems to have had a change of heart.

Eritrea did, however, enter the last Cup of Nations preliminaries only to later withdraw.

If they play in the 2027 qualifiers, it will be the first ever Cup of Nations where every one of the 54 countries on the continent has competed.

The bottom 12 teams in the rankings were drawn on Tuesday into six knockout round ties, to be played home and away in March, to get the 2027 qualifiers underway.

The winners will advance to the group stage, along with Africa’s 42 top-ranked teams, to be divided into 12 groups of four teams each.

The top two in each group then qualify for the finals, except in those groups where already-qualified co-hosts Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda are drawn to play.

Eritrea has no FIFA ranking because it has not played a fixture within world football’s governing body’s parameters of 48 months.