CAPE TOWN: The first teams to book a place in next year’s Africa Cup of Nations finals could be confirmed after the latest rounds of qualifiers, which get under way on Thursday.
Democratic Republic of Congo, Ivory Coast and Morocco, who were all at the World Cup, head the list of teams fancied to continue a 100 percent start to preliminaries for the 2027 finals being co-hosted by Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda from June 19-July 17.
With two team to qualify from all but three of the 12 groups, the Congolese, Ivorians and Moroccans will make sure of their places at the 24-team finals with wins in their respective ties over the next seven days.
DR Congo face Sierra Leone, Morocco meet Niger and Ivory Coast take on Gambia, who upset Ghana in Group C in September in one of several shock results at the start of the campaign.
The 10-day international window covers the third and fourth set of group games with the last two rounds scheduled for March.
It is a vital juncture for Ghana, who went to this year’s World Cup but missed out on the last Cup of Nations tournament in Morocco after a calamitous qualifying campaign and are under threat of doing the same for the next edition.
