Africa Cup of Nations Football: 2027 Hosts, Qualifiers and Format

The Africa Cup of Nations, known across the continent as AFCON, is Africa's men's football championship for national teams, first played in Khartoum, Sudan, in 1957 and now contested by 24 nations at the finals. AFCON 2025 has two results to know: Senegal beat Morocco 1-0 after extra time in the final on 18 January 2026, and CAF's Appeals Jury recorded a 3-0 win for Morocco.

AFCON 2027 is co-hosted by Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda and runs from 19 June to 17 July 2027. A South African searching for soccer AFCON news and a Nigerian typing football AFCON are following the same tournament, as are fans in Ghana, Kenya and Uganda, who can check the broadcaster module for how to watch in their own country, with every kick off shown in WAT, EAT, SAST and GMT.

Who Won the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations, and Who Won AFCON 2026?

On the pitch, Senegal won the 2025 final, and CAF's Appeals Jury later recorded a 3-0 win for Morocco. The final was played at the Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium in Rabat on 18 January 2026, and Senegal beat the hosts 1-0 after extra time. Morocco had reached it by beating Nigeria 4-2 on penalties after a 0-0 draw in the last four.

The order of events matters, because the order of events explains both results. Senegal left the pitch during the final, and CAF's Appeals Jury later recorded a 3-0 win for Morocco. What stands is the score played on the night, 1-0 to Senegal after extra time, and the ruling that came after it: CAF's Appeals Jury recorded a 3-0 win for Morocco.

Anyone searching for who won AFCON 2026 is asking about the same tournament. The edition carries the name AFCON 2025 because that was the year it was scheduled for, and its final fell in January 2026. There is no separate AFCON 2026, and AFCON 2027 is a separate tournament in East Africa, played from 19 June to 17 July 2027. The clearest description is two parts: Senegal on the pitch, Morocco by ruling.

Is Kenya in AFCON 2027?

Yes, Kenya is in AFCON 2027, because it shares the hosting with Tanzania and Uganda, and the hosts take their places at the finals without needing to qualify. The tournament opens on 19 June 2027 and the final is set for 17 July 2027, making it the first Africa Cup of Nations with three host nations. For the Harambee Stars, that means a tournament played in front of their own supporters.

The three hosts are neighbouring countries that share the Swahili language and a time zone. Fans who speak Swahili in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda can check the broadcaster module for how to follow each match, so the atmosphere should travel well beyond the stadiums. AFCON 2027 is likely to feel less like one country's party and more like a regional festival, which would be something new for the competition.

Uganda shares the host role with Kenya, and the Cranes have a home qualifying group in Group H of the AFCON 2027 qualifiers to follow. Hosting also changes the arithmetic for every team drawn alongside the three hosts, which the next section explains. For readers in Nigeria, South Africa and Ghana, the practical point is that the 2027 finals sit in the East African time zone and in the middle of the year, so viewing plans will look quite different from a January tournament in West or North Africa.

How Do You Qualify for AFCON 2027, and How Do You Read the Table?

Qualifying for AFCON 2027 runs through 12 groups of four, with 48 teams chasing the 24 places at the finals. In most groups the top two go through, but the three host groups work differently. For the AFCON 2027 qualifiers, Kenya sits in Group D, Uganda in Group H and Tanzania in Group L, and because each host already has its place, only the team that finishes highest apart from the host qualifies from those groups. Finishing second behind Kenya, Uganda or Tanzania can still be enough, while a team drawn with a host in the AFCON 2027 qualifiers has just one ticket to aim for.

The Afcon table above shows every qualifying group, and the host groups are worth reading with a finger on the host's line. In the AFCON 2027 qualifiers, the place that matters in Groups D, H and L is the highest finish by a team that is not the host, so the host's points shape the race without taking a ticket from anyone. In the other groups, the table (or log, as many South Africans call it) reads the usual way, with points deciding the order and the competition's rules for separating level sides applied by the module whenever teams finish level.

The Afcon fixtures list gives the qualifier dates, with kick off times in WAT, EAT, SAST and GMT, and the Afcon results page keeps every score from the campaign in order. Read the two together and you can see which sides have played more matches, which matters in a group where a team can sit lower simply because it has a game in hand. It could be argued that the fixture list is the more useful of the pair late in a campaign, because it tells you exactly who still has to play whom.

Which African Stars Leave Their Clubs for AFCON?

Every Africa Cup of Nations pulls players away from the big European leagues, and supporters in all five countries keep a close eye on who is away. Stars at clubs in the Premier League, La Liga, Serie A and Ligue 1 leave to join their national teams, so a fan of an English or Spanish club in Lagos or Kampala often follows AFCON twice over, once for country and once to count the absences. The squads module and the fixtures list show who has been called up and when each side plays, which is the quickest way to answer that question.

The timing of the 2027 finals changes that story. Recent editions sat in January and February, in the middle of the European season, and the 2023 tournament was played in early 2024 because of the host country's schedule. AFCON 2027 runs from June to July, after the European leagues have finished, so the tug between club and country should ease. A June finals still asks players to arrive straight from a long season, and squad depth (rather than one or two famous names) is likely to decide how far a side goes.

How Did the Africa Cup of Nations Begin?

The Africa Cup of Nations began in Khartoum, Sudan, in 1957, and Egypt won that first tournament. Egypt won again in 1959, setting a pattern of early strength that later titles in 1986, 1998, 2006, 2008 and 2010 only confirmed. When older fans in Accra or Lagos describe Egypt as the measure of the competition, they are pointing to a record built over five decades rather than a passing reputation, and the honours list on the records module bears that out year by year.

Ghana's success arrived early too, with titles in 1963 and 1965, and those successive wins remain a source of real pride for the Black Stars. The honours then spread more widely, through Nigeria's first title in 1980, Cameroon's first in 1984 and South Africa's win as hosts in 1996. Zambia's victory in 2012, on penalties against Ivory Coast in the final in Libreville, Gabon, is the kind of story that reminds every nation still waiting for a first title that the trophy can travel anywhere on the continent.

Which Countries Have Won the Most AFCON Titles?

Egypt has won the most Africa Cup of Nations titles, with seven, and Cameroon is next with five. Cameroon's wins came in 1984, 1988, 2000, 2002 and 2017, and the titles in 2000 and 2002 came at successive tournaments, something Egypt later stretched to three in a row between 2006 and 2010. Those two nations set the standard that the rest of the continent measures itself against, and their combined twelve titles account for a large share of every final ever played.

Ghana has four titles (1963, 1965, 1978 and 1982) and Nigeria has three (1980, 1994 and 2013), which makes the West African rivalry one of the most closely counted in the competition. Ivory Coast won the 2023 edition, played in January and February 2024, while the 2025 title is described above, where CAF's Appeals Jury recorded a 3-0 win for Morocco. The table below lists the winners most relevant to readers in our five countries, alongside Egypt, the record holder, and Cameroon in second place.

If you are reading the honours list for your own country, the useful column is the years, because the gaps tell the story as much as the totals do. South Africa's single title came at home in 1996, which shows that a host nation can win the tournament on home soil.

How Does the AFCON Football Format Work, and Why Did the Calendar Change?

The finals have 24 teams in six groups of four, and 16 of them go through to the knockout rounds. The top two in each group qualify, joined by the four best teams that finish third, and from the round of 16 onward every match is a knockout tie settled on the day, with extra time and penalties where needed. This shape arrived with the 2019 edition, when the tournament expanded from 16 teams to 24, and it has given more nations a realistic route into the knockout stage.

The rule on the best teams that finish third is the part that catches people out, so it deserves a moment. A side that finishes third can still progress if its record beats at least two of the other teams that finish third, which means the last round of group games often becomes a calculation across several groups at once. Watching the table as those final group matches finish is the AFCON equivalent of checking the fuel gauge on a long drive, because a single goal in another stadium can change the whole picture.

From 2013 the tournament moved to years ending in an odd number so that it would not clash with the FIFA World Cup, which is why Zambia won in 2012 and Nigeria won again a year later in 2013. Since then, the name has followed the scheduled year even when the matches spilled into the next one: the 2023 edition was played in January and February 2024, and AFCON 2025 finished in January 2026. AFCON 2027 brings the name and the calendar back together, played in June and July of the year in its title.

What Does AFCON Mean for Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa, Ghana and Uganda?

Nigeria have three titles (1980, 1994 and 2013), the most recent in 2013, and the Super Eagles reached the last four of the 2025 tournament before losing 4-2 on penalties to Morocco after a 0-0 draw. The broadcaster module shows how to watch in Nigeria, and the 2027 finals are played in the East African time zone, so the converted kick off times are worth checking in Lagos.

Ghana are four times champions (1963, 1965, 1978 and 1982), the most recent in 1982. Supporters in Accra follow call ups closely, and a strong qualifying campaign is read as a sign of what the team could achieve at the finals. The fixtures module lists Ghana's matches with kick off times in WAT, EAT, SAST and GMT, which is usually the first thing fans check once a squad has been named, and the results page keeps every score in order.

South Africa won its only title in 1996, as hosts, and Bafana Bafana supporters still treat that tournament as a high point of the national team's story. Interest follows the PSL stars who turn out for the national side, so a supporter in Durban or Soweto often watches AFCON partly to see club favourites in a different shirt. The broadcaster module shows how to watch in South Africa, and the 1996 title on home soil remains the country's only one.

Kenya and Uganda share the 2027 hosting with Tanzania, and for both the stake is home advantage rather than the defence of past honours. Harambee Stars supporters can follow the team through the fixtures and results modules. Uganda Cranes fans can follow their side in Group H of the AFCON 2027 qualifiers through the same modules, which list every match with kick off times in EAT and keep each score in order.

Which AFCON Records Still Stand?

The single tournament scoring record belongs to Mulamba Ndaye of Zaire, who scored nine goals at the 1974 Africa Cup of Nations, a mark that still stands. To put that in context, nine goals at one finals is a tally many strikers would be pleased to reach across several tournaments. Laurent Pokou of Ivory Coast scored 14 goals across his AFCON career, and that total stood as the record until 2008.

Live scoring charts for the current competition sit in Afcon stats, which keeps top scorers and the other player numbers up to date after every match. The records module above lists the leading scorers across AFCON history and past winning squads, so you can trace a nation's golden generation alongside the year it won. If you want to see where an African star at a European club stands among the great AFCON forwards, those two modules together answer the question faster than any written list could.

What Time Do AFCON Matches Kick Off in Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda, Ghana and South Africa?

Every AFCON kick off on the fixtures list is shown in four time zones at once: WAT for Nigeria, EAT for Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, SAST for South Africa, and GMT for Ghana. The gaps are constant, so the sums are easy once you know them, with WAT one hour ahead of GMT, SAST two hours ahead and EAT three hours ahead. Clocks stay the same all year in each of these countries, so one conversion holds for every qualifier and every finals match.

Because all three 2027 hosts are on EAT, the finals are likely to be timed around East African afternoons and evenings, and readers further west will see earlier local kick offs. As a worked example, a match starting at 20:00 EAT in Nairobi begins at 19:00 SAST in Johannesburg, 18:00 WAT in Lagos and 17:00 GMT in Accra. For Ghanaian and Nigerian fans, that can mean watching straight after work rather than late at night.

How Can You Watch AFCON Football in Your Country?

Where to watch the Africa Cup of Nations depends on your country, and the broadcaster module beside the fixtures shows the options for Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa, Ghana and Uganda. Rights can differ between the finals and the qualifiers, and between television and streaming, so the module is the place to check before a match rather than a list written once and left alone. Treat it the way you treat a bus timetable, something to glance at on the day instead of trusting to memory.

Viewing options differ as much as the rights do, and the broadcaster module shows whether a match is on television, streaming or both in each country. For supporters in Ghana the fixtures list doubles as a diary, with the kick off already converted to GMT, and the same list gives readers in the other four countries their own local times.

If you like to look ahead, the Afcon predictions page sets out a call for each fixture, and each call is shown as a probability with a reference price. For a simple matchday routine, open the fixtures list to find the kick off in your own time zone, then check the broadcaster module for your country before the teams walk out. Bookmark the hub and you will have the whole tournament, from the qualifiers to the 2027 final in East Africa, in one place.