Nigeria have been handed a bye into the second round of the 2027 U-23 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifiers, where they will face either Mauritania or DR Congo for a place in the final qualifying round.
The draw for the qualifiers was conducted at the Confederation of African Football (CAF) headquarters in Cairo on Tuesday, determining the pathway for teams seeking to qualify for the continental tournament.
Hosts Egypt have automatically secured their place at the finals, leaving 42 nations to battle for the remaining seven spots through three rounds of home-and-away qualifying ties.
The first round will involve 28 teams, while 14 nations, including Nigeria, have been exempted from the opening round based on their performances at the previous three editions of the competition. The first leg of this round will be played on September 28 while the second leg is scheduled for October 6.
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The 14 winners from the first round will face the 14 teams that received byes in the second round. Nigeria will therefore enter the competition at that stage against the winner of the first-round tie between Mauritania and DR Congo. The first leg of this round will be played on November 9 with the second leg set for November 17.
If Nigeria progress from the second round, they will face the winner of the tie involving Burkina Faso, Sierra Leone or Zambia in the third and final qualifying round.
The other teams handed byes into the second round are defending champions Morocco, Zambia, Niger, Ghana, Gabon, Ivory Coast, Senegal, Cameroon, South Africa, Congo, Guinea, Algeria and Mali.
The 14 winners from the second round will advance to the final qualifying round, where seven teams will emerge to join Egypt at the eight-team U-23 AFCON finals. The first leg for the third round will be played on March 22, 2027. The second leg will be held a week later on March 30.
The U-23 AFCON will also serve as the African qualifiers for the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, with the continent’s top teams at the tournament earning qualification to the Olympic football competition.
Nigeria, champions in 2015, will be looking to return to the tournament after missing out on the 2023 edition. Their absence three years ago was the first time they failed to qualify for the competition since its inception in 2011.
The Olympic Eagles will now begin preparations for their second-round qualifying campaign as they seek to reclaim their place among Africa’s best at the U-23 level.
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