Eritrea end 19-year Afcon qualifying exile with commanding win over Eswatini

Asmara—After nearly two decades in the wilderness, Eritrea are back in the Africa Cup of Nations qualifying picture, sweeping aside Eswatini 4-1 on aggregate to reach the group stage for the first time since 2007.

The Red Sea Camels, forced to stage their home leg in Morocco because no domestic venue meets international standards, sealed the historic passage with a 2-0 victory in Rabat and a 2-1 win in Manzini, where the home side’s goal arrived deep in stoppage time of the second leg.

Ali Sulieman, a 26-year-old forward who plies his trade for Egyptian Premier League outfit Kahrabaa Ismaila, tormented Eswatini throughout the tie, claiming three of Eritrea’s four goals. His opener in the Moroccan neutral venue was complemented by a strike from Siem Eyob-Abraha, the Sheffield United attacker and former Manchester United academy product, to establish a commanding first-leg lead.

Sulieman struck again in the return fixture, and although Eswatini pulled one back in the 96th minute, the single reply was never enough to threaten Eritrea’s aggregate advantage.

Ranked 184th in the latest Fifa list—only four African nations sit lower—the Eritreans had played merely a handful of senior matches since 2018 and last took part in an Afcon qualifier in September 2007, coincidentally also against Eswatini. Years of self-imposed isolation followed, fuelled by fears that players based inside the country would defect while abroad, as occurred during a 2019 regional tournament in Uganda.

Yet the appointment of former Egypt defender Hesham Yakan, a 1990 World Cup veteran, has coincided with a cautious re-engagement. Yakan’s squad blends home-based footballers with diaspora professionals such as Eyob-Abraha, and the formula proved potent enough to dispatch an Eswatini side that had hoped to exploit Eritrea’s long inactivity.

Burundi, Ethiopia, Lesotho, Somalia and South Sudan also progressed from the preliminary round, whose winners join 45 higher-ranked nations in the group phase beginning this September. The draw date is yet to be announced by the Confederation of African Football.

For Eritrea, the reward is a place in the road to Afcon 2027, the first edition to be co-hosted by Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. Whether the Red Sea Camels can maintain momentum remains to be seen, but after 19 years on the sidelines, the mere act of participation marks a watershed moment for one of African football’s most reclusive nations.