AFCONQ2025: Harambee Stars pooled in Group J alongside Cameroon, Namibia and Zimbabwe

Kenya will have to get past five-time AFCON champions Cameroon, Namibia, and Zimbabwe to qualify for the 2025 African Cup of Nations which will be held in Morocco from 21 December 2025 to 18 January 2026.

The four teams were pooled in Group J during the 2025 AFCON draw held on Thursday in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Kenya is not a stranger to the three countries having played at least six matches against each of the trio.

Namibia is the team that Kenya has met the least, six times, but they are one that has been a flesh in the thorn of the Harambee Stars since the two countries met in 1996 for 1998 AFCON qualifiers.

Namibia has defeated Kenya four times, winning three of those matches 1-0 and the other one 2-1. Kenya has only won only two matches against Namibia and both were 1-0 wins.

The two teams have only met in AFCON or FIFA World Cup qualifiers. The two teams last played each other in September 2013 during a 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifier match played in Nairobi which Kenya won 1-0.

Cameroon is the only team in the group that Kenya has never won against with Harambee Stars managing only four draws and suffering four losses in their eight meetings against the central Africans.

This will be the second time that the two countries have been pooled together in an AFCON qualifying group. The two countries drew both matches (0-0 in Nairobi and 1-1 in Cameroon) when they met during the 1998 AFCON qualifiers.

Kenya and Cameroon have also met thrice at AFCON with Kenya losing twice (2-1 in 1972 and 2-0 in 1990) and drawing once (0-0 in 1988).

Their other three meetings came in the All Africa Games (3-3 in 1987) and friendly matches in which Kenya suffered 3-1 losses in 1984 and 2010. That 2010 defeat at Kasarani accounts for the two teams’ last meeting to date. Kenya will be eager to improve their record against the Indomitable Lions who have been on a decline in the last two years.

With 12 meetings between, Zimbabwe is the team in Group J that Harambee Stars has played the most and had the most success against. Kenya has lost only once to Zimbabwe (a 2-0 defeat in the 1985 CECAFA Cup) with the remaining 11 matches ending in six wins for Kenya. There have been five draws between the two countries.

While that record looks good on paper, Kenya will have to put in the work against Zimbabwe as only one of their six wins against them have come in AFCON or FIFA World Cup qualifiers matches. The other five wins have come in the CECAFA Cup (3 wins), COSAFA Cup (1 win), and friendly games (1).

Therefore, Kenya will look to do better than the one victory and three draws Harambee Stars registered in their four previous AFCON/FIFA World Cup qualifier matches against Zimbabwe.

The draw that brought together 48 teams from the continent that will fight for 23 qualifying slots. The 48 teams were divided into 12 groups of four. The top two teams in each group will qualify for the 2025 African Cup of Nations.

The #AFCONQ2025 Groups are set! ✅ pic.twitter.com/QD1HKsxa7O

— CAF_Online (@CAF_Online) July 4, 2024

Morocco, who have qualified as hosts, will play the qualifiers as a formality and have been pooled in Group B with Gabon, Central African Republic, and Lesotho. In that group, only one team will join Morocco at AFCON 2025 and the slot will go to the team that tops the group out right or finishes second to Morocco.

Kenya’s eastern neighbours Somalia were not part of the draw having being eliminated from the qualifiers by eSwatini during the preliminary qualifying round in March. Also missing in action were Djibouti and Eritrea. The Eritrean national football team has not been active for over a year while Djibouti suffered the same fate as Somalia in March after they were eliminated by Liberia.

Therefore, including Kenya, the CECAFA continent in the draw comprised Burundi, Ethiopia, Rwanda, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda. The seven teams were pooled in the following groups:

GROUP D: Nigeria, Benin, Libya, RWANDA

GROUP F: Ghana, Angola, SUDAN, Niger

GROUP H: DR Congo, Guinea, TANZANIA, ETHIOPIA

GROUP K: South Africa, UGANDA, Congo, SOUTH SUDAN

GROUP L: Senegal, Burkina Faso, Malawi, BURUNDI