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Sierra Leone’s senior men’s national football team, the Leone Stars, will today, December 19, 2025, discover their group opponents for the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifiers when the official draw is conducted in Rabat, Morocco, at 18:00 GMT.
The draw signals the start of a new qualification campaign for the continent’s most prestigious football tournament.
The 2027 AFCON finals will mark a historic milestone for African football, as the tournament will be jointly hosted by three East African nations Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania.
This will be the first time the competition is co-hosted by three countries, underscoring regional cooperation and unity in East Africa.
Africa’s football governing body, the Confederation of African Football (CAF), has also announced changes to the qualification format for the 2027 edition. Under the revised system, the qualifiers will feature 13 groups, with each group comprising either three or four teams, depending on the final number of participating nations confirmed by CAF.
According to the new qualification criteria, the 13 group winners will automatically qualify for the AFCON finals, alongside the three best-ranked runners-up.
The remaining 10 runners-up will advance to a two-legged playoff round, where they will compete for the final available slots in the expanded 24-team tournament.
For the Leone Stars, the Rabat draw will provide clarity on the scale of the challenge ahead as they seek to secure a place at the historic East African edition of the Africa Cup of Nations.
