Zambia will go into the draw for the 2027 TotalEnergies CAF Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers in Pot 2 as the Chipolopolo prepare to discover their route to the continental finals.
The draw for the tournament, which will be jointly hosted by Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda under the “Pamoja” banner, takes place on Tuesday.
The finals are scheduled to run from 19 June to 17 July 2027, with the opening match set for Nairobi and the final to be played on 17 July.
Zambia are aiming to return to the tournament after a disappointing campaign at the last edition, where they were eliminated in the group stage without registering a victory.
Head coach George Lwandamina will be hoping to guide the Chipolopolo back to the latter stages of the competition, with Zambia still searching for their first AFCON knockout victory since lifting the title in 2012.
Pot 1 contains some of Africa’s biggest football nations, including Morocco, Senegal, Nigeria, Algeria, Egypt, Ivory Coast, Tunisia, Cameroon, DR Congo, Mali, South Africa and Burkina Faso.
Zambia share Pot 2 with Ghana, Cape Verde, Guinea, Gabon, Uganda, Angola, Benin, Mozambique, Madagascar, Equatorial Guinea and Comoros.
The qualification campaign will feature 48 teams, including co-hosts Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, divided into 12 groups of four.
The top two teams from each group will qualify automatically for the finals, while groups containing one of the host nations will see an additional side progress.
Qualifying matches will be played across three FIFA international windows:
Matchdays 1 and 2: 21 September to 6 October 2026
Matchdays 3 and 4: 9 to 17 November 2026
Matchdays 5 and 6: 22 to 30 March 2027
