AFCON 2027 Qualifiers: Eritrea will play the qualifications with a new coach
Absent from the qualifiers for the African Cup of Nations since the 2008 edition, Eritrea will be present in the qualifying round of the 2027 edition and has even appointed a foreign coach to perfect the preparation of a team that has not played an official match since September 10, 2019.
Philemon MBALE · Author profile ·
Listen to this story
Audio version in preparation · read aloud by your browser meanwhile
Invited like the other federation presidents to Morocco for the AFCON, the Eritrean football manager, Paulos Weldehaimanot, had confirmed the registration of the team to "play the qualifiers at the AFCON 2027" with the idea of calling several players 'evolving outside the African continent' in order to present 'a strong team'.
If doubts persisted about a new last-minute withdrawal, the situation was different since the CAF had significantly increased the fines and suspensions for the selections not participating in official meetings. In fact, the Eritrean federation had taken precautions to fulfill administrative obligations with the CAF and its own government.
An Egyptian coach who hasn’t coached for years
Having contacted many players of Eritrean origin in recent weeks to compete in the qualifying round against Eswatini, the federation has also appointed a new coach: Hesham Yakan, a former Egyptian player who served as assistant to Zamalek or the Egyptian U21 team.
With other experiences as a head coach in Egyptian second-tier formations, he was however mainly known as a TV consultant in recent years since the end of his last adventure with the Sohag club in 2019.
If his appointment has not been formalized by the Eritrean federation, it was confirmed by the communication officer of the Eritrean embassy in the United Kingdom and Ireland, Yared Tesfay, through a long post on X published this Monday, March 9.
A way to show that the State validated the coach’s choice and also to relaunch football on the continental stage, especially if the team was largely composed of players playing abroad, which limited the risks of defection.