Eight Nations Battle as 2026 CAF Futsal AFCON Begins in Rabat

The highly anticipated 2026 TotalEnergies CAF Futsal Africa Cup of Nations officially commenced in Rabat, Morocco, on Monday. Eight countries are vying for the coveted continental trophy in a competition scheduled to conclude on October 21.

The Confederation of African Football confirmed that the inaugural fixture would see Libya face off against Zambia at the Moulay Abdellah Sports Hall, marking the start of the tournament's proceedings. The participating eight nations include the host country Morocco, alongside Libya, Zambia, Algeria, Egypt, Angola, Mozambique, and Tanzania.

These teams have been drawn into two distinct groups: Group A features Morocco, Libya, Zambia, and Algeria, while Group B consists of Egypt, Angola, Mozambique, and Tanzania.

Libya enters this edition aiming to improve upon their impressive third-place performance in 2024, where they secured victory over Egypt in a penalty shootout. The Mediterranean Knights, who clinched the title in 2008, are now under the guidance of new head coach Pereira da Silva, succeeding Ricardo Inuguez. The ex-Al-Ittihad and Misrata coach will be looking for a formidable opening result against Zambia.

On the other hand, Zambia's squad will be managed by Andrea Cristoforetti, marking his second consecutive appearance as head coach at the CAF Futsal Africa Cup of Nations, having also led them at the 2024 finals, also held in Rabat. Cristoforetti highlighted the advantages of their pre-tournament preparations, which involved two friendly encounters with Egypt, crucial for evaluating their preparedness for the competition.

"We had two friendly games against Egypt, which gave us a good indication of our level, more or less," Cristoforetti was quoted by CAF as saying. He added, "I can tell from my experience of many, many years, from when I was a player, that Libya has always been a team that plays in the World Cup, giving problems with a structured, solid game of futsal. We are truly curious to see where we stand against these two North African teams. This is our situation.”

The Zambian coach further conveyed his optimism, believing that the additional experience accumulated by his players since the last tournament would contribute to an enhanced performance this time around. "The preparation went pretty well. We have some of the players, like our captain, with experience now, and we know what to expect in a competition like this," he stated. "So, I think we will be a little more ready than last time, in trying again to fill that gap, that huge gap we had against more experienced teams. As Zambia has been growing throughout these four years, I think this will be one more step in that growth,” Cristoforetti affirmed.

As the quest for the continental championship commences, Libya is set to capitalize on their recent top-three achievement, while Zambia will be keen to gauge their development against one of Africa's prominent futsal teams.