Ethiopia take on Egypt in AFCON2023Q this evening in Cairo

Addis Ababa, September 8, 2023 (FBC) – The Ethiopia national football team, also known as The Walias, will play against Egypt at the Air Defense Stadium, in Cairo, in the last round of the qualifiers for the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, scheduled in Cote d’Ivoire early next year.

The squad members of the Ethiopian football team have arrived in Cairo a few days ago ahead of their final match of AFCON 2023 qualifiers in group D. Since then, they were gearing-up for the match at the 30 June Stadium.

The Walias head into today’s match knowing that they are out of the AFCON 2023 tournament which will be hosted by Côte d’Ivoire. However, they will be buoyed by their 2-0 victory in the reverse fixture over Egypt last year.

It is confirmed that a Gabonese referee will officiate today’s match. The two linesmen will also be from Congo and Gabon.

The match will be broadcasted on beIN Sports, the exclusive broadcaster of all tournaments affiliated with the Confederation of African Football (CAF) in the Middle East and North Africa.

In his pre-match presser, The Walias’ interim head coach Daniel Gebremariam thanked the Egyptians for the welcome accorded to his team.

Speaking on their last match of the AFCON23 qualifiers, he pointed out that even though Ethiopia did not qualify for the 2023 AFCON tournament, his team will use this game to prepare for the 2026 World Cup qualifiers and CHAN (TotalEnergies African Nations Championship) qualifiers. It will also be an opportunity for new players to showcase their potentials, the interim head coach noted.

When asked about their preparations for the game, the coach recalled that Ethiopia won 2-0 in the reverse match which was played in Malawi. “We have prepared for this game like we prepare for other games,” he said.

Regarding the absence of Egypt’s main man, Mohamed Salah, from the game, he said, “Without Salah, the Egyptian national team is also strong and has other good players. We respect their squad, but we will play as a team whether they play with or without Salah,” Daniel concluded.

In an official statement from the Egyptian FA, the national team coach Rui Vittoria decided not to rely on Salah during tonight’s match.

According to reports, The Pharaohs will also be without Arsenal’s defensive midfielder Mohamed Elneny.

Both teams will face off each other once again in the 2026 FIFA World Cup Africa Preliminary Qualifiers. They have been drawn in the same group when the journey to the FIFA World Cup 2026 was officially mapped out in July as CAF conducted the official draw in Côte d’Ivoire.

Both Ethiopia and Egypt will be joined by Burkina Faso, Guinea-Bissau, Sierra Leone, and Djibouti in Group A as they go toe-to-toe to book their places in the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

Ethiopia will host the first leg of their meeting in March 2025 and the return match will be played in Egypt in September 2025, according to the official schedule.

However, the Walias will kick of their adventure to the 2026 FIFA World Cup as they welcome the Sierra Leone national team in November 2023. In the same month, they will also host Burkina Faso national team before they travel to Guinea-Bissau in June 2024 for their third match in Group A. They will entertain their neighbours Djibouti in March 2025 before they welcome Egypt in that month.

According to Confederation of African Football, a total of 54 African nations will compete for the available 9.5 allocated spots for Africa, with the qualifiers officially starting in November 2023.

As in previous qualifiers, the draw produced some interesting outcomes for the nations, who were split into nine groups of six as the journey to Canada, Mexico and USA gets underway in the next few months.

Winners of each Group will automatically qualify for the FIFA World Cup™ 2026.

The four best runners-up (from the Groups) will play in a CAF Play-Off tournament. The winner of the CAF Play-Off Tournament will play in the FIFA Play-off Tournament to potentially be the 10th African nation.