Night of the elites
Kenya’s Harambee Stars have been drawn to face Cameroon in the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers.
In the draw conducted yesterday by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) in Johannesburg, South Africa, Harambee Stars were pooled in Group J alongside the Indomitable Lions, Namibia, and Zimbabwe.
Kenya will be making a return to the Afcon qualifiers, having missed the qualifiers for the 2023 edition held in Ivory Coast.
Initially pooled alongside Cameroon, Namibia, and Burundi, Kenya were later disqualified before playing a single game following the indefinite ban slapped on the country by the world governing body Fifa for alleged government interference.
The ban came after the then Cabinet Secretary for Sports, Amina Mohamed, disbanded the Football Kenya Federation (FKF) office led by president Nick Mwendwa and set up a six-man Normalization Committee.
Kenya is currently participating in the qualifiers for the 2026 Fifa World Cup, having played four matches so far.
Path to Morocco
They kicked off their campaign with a 2-1 defeat against Gabon, recovered to beat Seychelles 5-0, drew 1-1 against Burundi, and registered a 0-0 draw against African Champions Ivory Coast.
They are currently fourth in the six-team Group F with five points–five fewer than log leaders the Elephants.
The 35th edition will be hosted by Morocco for the second time and the first since 1988.
Morocco was originally scheduled to host the 2015 edition but withdrew due to fears stemming from the Western African Ebola virus epidemic.
Due to Fifa expanding its Club World Cup competition to 32 teams and scheduling it for June and July that year, this edition of the tournament will be played between December 21, 2025, and January 18, 2026.
The situation has been further complicated by the addition of two extra match days scheduled for the last two weeks of January in the expanded Champions League starting next season in Europe.
This means the traditional window for Afcon in mid-January to mid-February–when the knockout stages of the Caf Champions League are due to start–is likely to cause even more disruption than usual.
