Eritrea have announced their return to continental football in the strongest possible way, defeating Eswatini 2–0 in the first leg of their 2027 Africa Cup of Nations preliminary-round qualifier in Meknes, Morocco. The result was not just a victory. It was the end of a long absence from AFCON qualifying competition and a moment of rare visibility for one of African football’s most withdrawn national teams.
According to the official match report from CAF, Eritrea broke the deadlock in the 81st minute when Siem Eyob-Abraha’s corner went straight into the net. The second goal came deep into stoppage time through Abdurahman Sulieman, giving the Red Sea Camels a two-goal advantage to protect ahead of the return leg.
What makes the result especially significant is the context. Eritrea had not featured in AFCON qualifying for roughly 18 years, after repeatedly withdrawing from international football competitions. Ahead of the match, Al Jazeera noted that this was Eritrea’s first AFCON qualifier since the road to the 2008 tournament, underlining how unusual and symbolic this comeback really is.
The match itself was played on neutral ground in Morocco rather than in Eritrea, but the performance still carried the emotional weight of a homecoming. Eritrea were disciplined for long stretches, remained patient in a game short on clear chances, and then struck decisively late. That matters because returns after long absences often come with rust, uncertainty, and limited expectations. Instead, Eritrea produced a result that immediately puts them in control of the tie.
Eswatini, for their part, were competitive for much of the contest and kept the match level until the closing stages. But once Eritrea found the breakthrough, the tie changed quickly. The late second goal may prove crucial, giving Eritrea not just momentum but real breathing space ahead of the decisive second leg.
The wider context is just as important as the scoreline. Eritrea’s long retreat from parts of international football has often been linked by outside observers to concerns over player defections during overseas travel and the wider political environment around sport and mobility. That history has made the national team’s reappearance in a CAF competition more than a routine sporting development. It is also a story about re-entry, visibility, and whether Eritrea can now sustain a more regular presence in African football.
For CAF, the result adds an unusual and compelling early narrative to the road to AFCON 2027, which will be hosted by Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. Eritrea’s return introduces a team with little recent continental match history but obvious symbolic resonance, and if they complete the job in the second leg, they will move one step closer to re-establishing themselves in the African football calendar.
The immediate way forward is clear. Eritrea still have work to do in the return leg, and Eswatini remain capable of making the tie difficult. But after nearly two decades away from AFCON qualifying, Eritrea now have something they did not have before kickoff in Meknes: a competitive edge, a tangible result, and a plausible pathway forward.
Primary sources: CAF match report, CAF qualifiers preview, Al Jazeera backgrounder.
