AFCON 2025: Super Eagles Draw Benin Republic, Rwanda again!

Kunle Adewale

The Super Eagles have been presented with an earlier opportunity to avenge their 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifying defeat to the Cheetahs of Benin Republic in Abidjan last month, with both teams again paired in the same group in the race for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations that begins in two months’ time.

Their FIFAWorld Cup qualifying reverse fixture is not due until the final day of the qualification series (6th – 14th October 2025), but both teams have much earlier battles to fight later this year as they aim to be among the 24 countries that will participate in the 35th Africa Cup of Nations scheduled for Morocco, 21st December 2025 – 18th January 2026.

At the draw ceremony conducted inside the SuperSport studio in Johannesburg, South Africa yesterday afternoon, the Super Eagles also drew the Amavubi of Rwanda – another team in their 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifying group, and which they next play in the series in March 2025 – as well as the Mediterranean Knights of Libya. All four teams are in Group D.

The six-match qualifying series have been spread over the FIFA windows in September, October and November, with two matches in each seven-day window.

GROUP A: Tunisia, Madagascar, Comoros, The Gambia

GROUP B: Morocco, Gabon, Central African Republic, Lesotho

GROUP C: Egypt, Cape Verde, Mauritania, Botswana

GROUP D: Nigeria, Benin Republic, Libya, Rwanda

GROUP E: Algeria, Equatorial Guinea, Togo, Liberia

GROUP F: Ghana, Angola, Sudan, Niger Republic

GROUP G: Cote d’Ivoire, Zambia, Sierra Leone, Chad

GROUP H: DR Congo, Guinea, Tanzania, Ethiopia

GROUP I: Mali, Mozambique, Guinea Bissau, Eswatini

GROUP J: Cameroon, Namibia, Kenya, Zimbabwe

GROUP K: South Africa, Uganda, Congo, South Sudan