Background

The 2027 tournament is branded 'Pamoja,' Swahili for 'together,' reflecting its joint hosting by Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda, the first time three nations have co-hosted an AFCON.

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Worth Knowing

It also marks East Africa's first AFCON since Ethiopia hosted the tournament in 1976, ending a gap of more than five decades for the region.

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Worth Knowing

CAF projects more than 1.5 million fans will travel across the region during the tournament, with a global broadcast audience expected to top 3.2 billion viewers.

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Worth Knowing

The 'Pamoja' identity wasn't created for this tournament alone, it was first trial-run during the 2024 African Nations Championship (CHAN) to test the three countries' readiness before taking on the much bigger AFCON.

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Photo via Pindula News.

Zimbabwean football fans barely had time to catch their breath after the Warriors' run at AFCON 2025 in Morocco before a new campaign landed on the calendar. The team has been drawn into Group E of the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers, alongside DR Congo, Equatorial Guinea and Sierra Leone, and the opening fixtures are now only weeks away.

Building on a finals appearance

Zimbabwe's last AFCON campaign ended at the group stage. The Warriors finished bottom of Group B in Morocco after a 3-2 defeat to South Africa, decided by a late penalty, having drawn with Angola and lost their opener, leaving them with a single point from three matches. Coach Marian Marinica pointed to the emergence of 16 year old Tadiwa Chakuchichi, the youngest player at the tournament, as a sign of what is coming through the ranks.

That disappointment hasn't dented the appetite for another run. Zimbabwe has now reached six AFCON finals since its first appearance in 2004, and reporting on the new qualifiers has consistently framed this campaign as a chance to build on that recent finals experience rather than simply forget it.

The road to East Africa

The 2027 tournament will be jointly hosted by Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, the first time the finals have been staged across three East African nations. Forty eight teams are chasing 24 places, with the three co-hosts already guaranteed a spot.

The Confederation of African Football drew Zimbabwe into Group E with DR Congo, Equatorial Guinea and Sierra Leone in May 2026. Qualifying runs across three FIFA international windows, matchdays one and two from 21 September to 6 October, matchdays three and four in November, and the final pair of matches in March 2027. The Warriors open away to Sierra Leone before hosting DR Congo, one of the continent's stronger sides, in their second match. That home fixture is expected to be played at the National Sports Stadium in Harare, which recently received CAF Category 3 approval, allowing it to host matches up to quarter final level.

Group E fixtures

Window Matchday Fixture
21 Sept – 6 Oct 2026 MD1 Sierra Leone vs Zimbabwe
21 Sept – 6 Oct 2026 MD2 Zimbabwe vs DR Congo
9 – 17 Nov 2026 MD3 Equatorial Guinea vs Zimbabwe
9 – 17 Nov 2026 MD4 Zimbabwe vs Equatorial Guinea
22 – 30 Mar 2027 MD5 Zimbabwe vs Sierra Leone
22 – 30 Mar 2027 MD6 DR Congo vs Zimbabwe

Exact match dates and kickoff times within each window are still to be confirmed by CAF.

A new coach, a blended squad

The campaign also marks a changing of the guard in the technical team. New head coach Ramon Catala named a 34 man provisional squad for the opening double header, mixing established names with local Premier Soccer League talent and several Zimbabweans plying their trade abroad, including Liverpool's Isaac Mabaya, Sheffield Wednesday's Sean Fusire and Watford's Jordan Zemura. Goalkeeping duties look set to be contested among Magesi's Elvis Chipezeze, Scottland's Nelson Chadya and Hardrock's Martin Mapisa.

Why this matters at home

Reaching a finals is one thing, qualifying consistently is the harder habit to build, and that's the real prize on offer here. A points tally in the low single digits sank Zimbabwe's 2026 World Cup qualifying campaign, so an assured start against Sierra Leone and DR Congo would say more about the direction of the programme than the AFCON 2025 run itself.

There's a wider angle too. Zimbabwean players based abroad, from the Premier League to Scandinavia, are increasingly part of the Warriors' pool, and a settled coach picking from a genuinely blended squad is worth watching as a marker of how the domestic and diaspora football scenes are starting to knit together. A strong qualifying campaign also keeps Zimbabwe's name in the conversation ahead of a tournament being staged, for the first time, right on the region's doorstep in East Africa, with all the travel and support that proximity makes possible for Zimbabwean fans.

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Rufaro