Harambee Stars’ opening Africa Cup of Nations 2027 qualifier has taken an unusual turn after Kenya’s opponents Eritrea were forced to rebuild their squad following the defection of seven players.
Eritrea will face Kenya at Nyayo National Stadium on Saturday, September 26, in their first Group D match of the AFCON 2027 qualifiers.
The seven players disappeared after Eritrea completed a 4-1 aggregate victory over Eswatini in March to reach the main qualifying stage.
According to Reuters, the players defected during Eritrea’s trip to South Africa and subsequently applied for political asylum.
The defections have forced Eritrea to change how it assembles its national team, with the country now turning to players from its diaspora.
The Eritrean squad includes players based in different countries, with only a small number of those who featured against Eswatini remaining in the team.
The development comes after Eritrea returned to competitive international football earlier this year following more than six years away.
The Red Sea nation had not played a competitive match since 2019 before entering the preliminary round of the AFCON 2027 qualifiers.
Eritrea’s return ended a long period in which the country regularly stayed out of major international competitions amid concerns over players defecting while on foreign trips.
Despite the upheaval, Eritrea progressed to the main qualifying stage after eliminating Eswatini and was drawn alongside Kenya, South Africa and Guinea in Group D.
Kenya, meanwhile, is already guaranteed a place at the 2027 AFCON finals as one of the tournament’s co-hosts alongside Uganda and Tanzania.
The qualifiers will nevertheless give coach Benni McCarthy competitive matches to assess his squad and prepare the Harambee Stars for next year’s tournament.
McCarthy has named a 24-man squad for the opening matches, with captain Michael Olunga leading the team.
Kenya will then travel to Conakry to face Guinea on October 1, while South Africa host Guinea in the other Group D opener on Saturday.
Under the qualification rules, only the highest-placed team other than Kenya in Group D will join the co-hosts at the 2027 finals.
For McCarthy, Saturday’s encounter presents an opportunity to start building the team he wants to take into the continental tournament.
For Eritrea, the match marks another chapter in an extraordinary return to the AFCON qualifying stage, now being played with a squad reshaped by the loss of seven players.