By Amaechi Agbo

The Eritrea national football team has withdrawn from the 2026 FIFA World Cup Africa qualifiers, FIFA and CAF have announced.

Eritrean National Football Federation, ENFF informed FIFA and CAF that they would not take part in the CAF qualifying series after it expressed fear that their players could escape and request political asylum

Eritrea is due to play Morocco, 2022 World Cup semi-finalist on Wednesday.

Africa’s football umpire, CAF confirmed their withdrawal in a statement.

“FIFA and CAF can confirm that the Eritrean National Football Federation has withdrawn from the FIFA World Cup 2026 preliminary competition.”

CAF noted that with the latest development, Group E worldCup ticket will be contested by five teams.   

“Following Eritrea’s withdrawal, group E of the CAF qualifiers will be contested by the five remaining teams: Morocco, Zambia, Congo, Tanzania and Niger. All of Eritrea’s matches have been cancelled, while the rest of the match schedule for Group E remains unchanged.”

Due to political situation and reported bad leadership in the country, there are palpable fears that Eritrean football players could escape in Morocco if they honoured the first leg this Wednesday.

The decision, though, has divided Eritrean football followers.