Africa Cup of Nations 2027: Algeria's road through Group I to East Africa
The Africa Cup of Nations is the championship of Africa's men's national teams, organised by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) since 1957 and known as AFCON in English and CAN in French. Its finals have brought 24 teams since 2019, up from 16 before. The 2027 edition goes to Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, the first finals ever staged by three countries, under the official name AFCON PAMOJA 2027: pamoja is Swahili for "jointly", and Swahili is one of the official languages of the three hosts. The opening match is on Saturday the nineteenth of June 2027, and the final comes four weeks later, on Saturday 17 July. 🌍
The hosts received their places automatically when CAF awarded them the rights on 27 September 2023. Every other ticket is won in qualifying, which all 54 member associations entered, the three hosts included, and which runs from September 2026 to March 2027. For Algeria, then, the road to East Africa starts in the autumn of 2026.
How the remaining places are shared out
Seeding followed the FIFA ranking of November 2025. The 12 lowest-placed entrants went into a preliminary round of six two-legged ties from 25 to 31 March 2026, and the six winners joined the rest in the group stage. The draw in Cairo in May 2026 split those 48 teams into 12 groups of four, where every side meets each of its three rivals twice, home and away.
Stage | Window | Teams | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
Preliminary round | 25–31 March 2026 | 12, in six ties | Completed; Burundi among the six winners |
Group matchdays 1–2 | 24 September – 6 October 2026 | 48, in 12 groups | All fixtures and kick-off times published by CAF |
Group matchdays 3–4 | 9–17 November 2026 | The same 48 | Window fixed, exact dates not yet published |
Group matchdays 5–6 | 22–30 March 2027 | The same 48 | Window fixed, exact dates not yet published; qualifying ends here |
Final tournament | June – July 2027 | 24 | Opening match and final dated; venues and draw pending |
Normally the top two in a group qualify. Groups D, H and L work differently because each contains a host: Kenya in D, Uganda in H, Tanzania in L. The host still plays all six matches, but from those groups only the best of the other three sides goes through. Nine groups sending two teams and three groups sending one add up to 21 qualifiers, and the three hosts complete the field.
Group I, from Tizi Ouzou to Bujumbura
Algeria skipped the preliminary round: 28th in the FIFA ranking used for seeding and 29th by the time of the draw, the team went into pot 1. Group I added Zambia, Togo and Burundi, and with no host in it, the top two of the four go to the finals.
CAF lists kick-off times in GMT, while Algeria stays one hour ahead all year (UTC+1); every time in the table below is converted to Algerian time. The first two matchdays fall on Friday 25 and Tuesday 29 September, and all four teams of the group play on both dates. 📅
Opponent | Algeria at home | Algeria away | Worth knowing |
|---|---|---|---|
Zambia | Matchday 1: 25 September 2026, Stade Hocine Aït Ahmed, Tizi Ouzou, 20:00 | Matchday 5, March 2027 window | Champion of Africa once; out in the group stage of the 2025 finals; at home to Togo on 29 September, 17:00 |
Burundi | Matchday 6, March 2027 window | Matchday 2: 29 September 2026, Stade Intwari, Bujumbura, 14:00 | Reached the groups through the preliminary round, beating Chad eight goals to none over two legs |
Togo | Matchday 3, November 2026 window | Matchday 4, November 2026 window | Starts at home to Burundi on 25 September, 17:00 |
CAF has not published dates or kick-off times for matchdays 3 to 6; the order in the table follows its official matchday pattern, the same for all 12 groups. Zambia are both the first opponent and the last away trip of the group. Fixtures are added to the pre-match line for every sport as their dates are confirmed.
The Fennecs' record: 1990, 2019 and the 2025 run
The Desert Warriors are two-time champions: 1990, when Algeria staged the finals, and 2019. At the 2025 edition they won all three Group E games in Rabat, against Sudan, Burkina Faso and Equatorial Guinea, for nine points and a goal record of seven scored and one conceded. The round of 16 against DR Congo on 6 January 2026 stayed goalless deep into extra time, until Adil Boulbina scored in the hundred and nineteenth minute. Four days later in Marrakesh a two-goal defeat by Nigeria ended the run at the quarter-final stage. CAF's final classification placed Algeria fifth, with four wins and one defeat from five matches. 🇩🇿
Qualifiers for 2027 are listed under Football in the pre-match section, alongside club competitions. From kick-off onwards, each Group I match continues in live football betting, where prices react to goals, cards and substitutions as they happen.
AFCON 2027 at 1xBet: match bets and the title
Each qualifier is priced ahead of the day with the core football markets: the three-way result, handicaps, over/under on goals, goals at both ends and the exact score, with each half also priced separately. Outright bets on the eventual winner of the 2027 finals go into the long-term section once that market opens.
Accounts opened on 1xBet Algeria are held in Algerian dinars (DZD) and topped up with BaridiMob, RedotPay or USDT. The Burundi away game falls on a Tuesday afternoon in Algeria, for anyone following it from work or on the move; the 1xBet mobile site carries the same pre-match and live lists as the desktop version. 📱
What CAF has still to confirm for the finals
CAF has not yet named the stadiums or host cities for 2027, and the date of the final draw is still to be set. Nairobi, with three grounds, Dar es Salaam, Arusha, Zanzibar, Kampala, Hoima and Lira are named among the candidates. The group format has not been published either. The four 24-team editions, from 2019 to 2025, used six groups of four: the top two and the four best third-placed sides went through to a round of 16, and the knockout path ran on through the quarter-finals and semis to the final, with a play-off for third place.
Whatever the final arrangement, these will be the first finals in East Africa's CECAFA zone since the 1970s. 🏟️