The year began with the Africa Cup of Nations in Full swing. Host Morocco had won their group despite a disappointing 1-1 draw with Mali. Another surprising result was Mozambique’s 3-2 win over Gabon that sent them through as one of the best third teams. Ivory Coast’s 3-0 victory against Burkina Faso in the round of 16 was their last hurrah in the competition while Nigeria celebrated a 2-0 triumph against Algeria in the quarter-finals but lost their semi-final match on penalties to the hosts who met Senegal in the final. The Senegalese thought they had won the cup with a goal in extra-time, but their disgraceful behaviour in the final resulted in the match and African crown being awarded to Morocco.
In the preliminary round of the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations, Eritrea upset Eswatini with Ali Sulieman scoring both goals in their 2-1 away win after he had scored a late goal in their 2-0 home victory and Burundi put the tie to bed when they netted 4 times in Chad without reply. Lesotho drew blanks against Seychelles in South Africa but came from behind to register a narrow victory a few days later while Djibouti enjoyed a 1-0 win in South Sudan but went out on aggregate having played both matches at the same stadium behind closed doors.
Viktor Gyökeres scored all 3 goals as Sweden eliminated Ukraine 3-1 from the World Cup in Spain before qualifying with a home win over Poland while Bolivia had their World Cup dreams shattered 2-1 by Iraq in Mexico. Completing the list of World Cup participants via the play-offs were Turkey, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Czech Republic and DR Congo.
In the Asian Cup qualifiers Sri Lanka triumphed 3-1 in Taiwan and Nepal lost 1-0 in Laos while in a CONCOCAF friendly series Bonaire sent St Vincent and the Grenadines home 3-1 losers and Aruba beat Liechtenstein 4-1 in the final of a FIFA Series in Rwanda.
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