Eritrea will not take part in African qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup, according to a joint statement signed by FIFA and the country’s football federation.

Eritrea will not participate in World Cup qualifiers – government fears players will flee

The African national team is not currently ranked by FIFA, as it played its last official match more than four years ago, in the qualifiers for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

Now Eritrea will not appear in the World Cup qualifiers in the USA, Mexico and Canada in 2026, writes Marca.

A brief statement released by FIFA did not give reasons for the withdrawal.

“FIFA and CAF can confirm that the National Football Federation of Eritrea has withdrawn from the 2026 World Cup qualifiers. All of Eritrea’s matches have been cancelled, while the rest of the Group E schedule remains unchanged: Morocco, Zambia, Congo, Tanzania and Niger,” the football forum said.

However, several African media sources attributed the government’s decision to fears that more Eritrean players could defect during the trip to Morocco for the first match.

A precedent came in 2019 when ten players sought political asylum in Botswana during the 2022 World Cup qualifiers, an incident that became a national embarrassment for dictator Issaias Afwerki’s government.

In 2021, Reporters Without Borders ranked Eritrea as the country with the least freedom of the press in the world, even second only to North Korea.