FREETOWN, 28th September 2026 – Sierra Leone’s, Leone Stars will today take on Equatorial Guinea in a crucial Group E encounter of the TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) 2027 qualifiers.
Kick-off is 4:00 PM GMT / 5:00 PM Sierra Leone time at the Stade Omnisports Ahmadou Ahidjo in Yaoundé, Cameroon. The venue is the home of Equatorial Guinea for this window.
The match is a must-win for both sides who started the qualifying campaign with defeats and sit bottom of Group E.
For Sierra Leone, it is a chance to immediately bounce back from a painful opening day collapse. The Leone Stars, under Head Coach Didier Gomes Da Rosa, were 2-0 up against Zimbabwe at halftime at the Stade El Abdi in El Jadida, Morocco on 24th September thanks to goals from Alie Conteh and Sallieu Tarawallie.
But they conceded three unanswered goals in the last 20 minutes, including a brace from Wolves midfielder Marshall Munetsi and a 76th-minute winner from Tawanda Chirewa, to lose 3-2.
Equatorial Guinea also lost their opener 2-0 away to DR Congo in Kinshasa, with goals from Chancel Mbemba and Yoane Wissa.
A second defeat for either side today would leave their qualification hopes for AFCON 2027 under serious strain.
Group Context
Sierra Leone are in Group E alongside Zimbabwe, Equatorial Guinea, and DR Congo. The top two teams will qualify directly for AFCON 2027, which will be co-hosted by Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania.
This is Sierra Leone’s quest to return to the continental stage for the first time since AFCON 2021 in Cameroon. That tournament also saw this same fixture – Equatorial Guinea beat Sierra Leone 1-0 in Limbe on 20th January 2022 with a Pablo Ganet goal, after veteran Kei Kamara missed a late penalty.
Overall, the last five meetings are evenly split – two wins each and one draw.
Leone Stars arrived in Yaoundé on Saturday morning from Morocco, led by SLFA President Babadi Kamara, and held their final training session on Sunday.
Coach Da Rosa is expected to keep faith with his attacking duo but will be demanding better defensive organization after the Zimbabwe collapse.
After this September window, Leone Stars will face DR Congo in back-to-back matches in November 2026, before finishing the group in March 2027.
