The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has appointed Nigerian referee Abdulsalam Abiola Kasim to officiate the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying fixture between Cameroon and Comoros. The match is scheduled for Thursday, September 24, at the Roumdé Adjia Stadium in Garoua. This appointment places Kasim at the centre of one of the opening fixtures of the TotalEnergies CAF Africa Cup of Nations PAMOJA 2027 qualifying campaign.
The match will be among the first set of fixtures to officially open the group-stage phase of the 2027 AFCON qualifying race. CAF has scheduled 24 matches across the 12 qualifying groups between September 24 and 26 as the 48 participating nations begin the battle for places at next year’s finals in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. The encounter will be an entirely Nigerian officiating team, with Kasim assisted by Muhammad Yakubu Mahamud, Ahmad Tijjani Mustapha, and Abubakar Nurudeen.
The appointment represents another opportunity for Nigerian match officials to operate at the highest level of African international football. The quartet is expected to maintain the standards required by CAF during the opening fixture of the qualifying campaign. Cameroon will have the advantage of playing before their home supporters when they welcome Comoros to Garoua for their first qualifying match.
The Indomitable Lions will be seeking to begin their campaign with maximum points, while Comoros will arrive with their own ambition of making a strong start in a group that also contains Namibia and Congo. CAF’s qualifying structure requires the teams to navigate a six-match group campaign, making the opening fixtures important as the teams seek to establish early positions in the standings.
The Cameroon-Comoros encounter is part of a much larger qualifying exercise involving 48 African nations. CAF has divided the teams into 12 groups of four, with the campaign running through six matchdays. However, the qualification formula is slightly different in the three groups containing the tournament’s co-hosts – Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania – because those countries already have guaranteed places at the 2027 finals.
For Kasim, Thursday’s appointment represents an important continental assignment at a time when CAF is deploying officials from across its member associations for the new qualifying cycle. Comoros will be hoping to continue their recent rise on the continental stage when they face Cameroon, having established itself as a more competitive force in African football in recent years.
The AFCON qualifying campaign gets underway with the Cameroon-Comoros fixture forming part of the first batch of matches. The finals will subsequently be staged from June 19 to July 17, 2027, in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, marking the first time that three countries will jointly host the AFCON finals.
Key points
- Nigerian referee Abdulsalam Abiola Kasim appointed by CAF to officiate Cameroon-Comoros AFCON 2027 qualifier
- The match will be an entirely Nigerian officiating team
- The 2027 AFCON finals will be hosted by Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda
