Football

Djibouti crash out of AFCON 2025 Qualifiers after loss to Liberia

Action between Djibouti and Liberia © Courtesy

By Michael Kirwa | Wednesday, March 27, 2024

Djibouti held Liberia to a goalless draw in the return tie but that wasn't enough as they had lost the first leg encounter 2-0

Djibouti crashed out of the AFCON 2025 qualifiers following a 0-0 draw away to Liberia on Tuesday in the second leg of their Preliminary Round tie.

Liberia had won the first leg 2-0 when the two nations met in Morocco on Thursday 21 March in Marrakech. The match was played in Morocco because Djibouti does not have a stadium which meets CAF and FIFA standards for hosting of international football matches.

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Djibouti has so far failed in all of its attempts to qualify for the African Cup of Nations since first trying to qualify for the AFCON 2000 edition.

However, Djibouti can take positives from the results as it marked only the third time in their history that they have managed to get a result away from home in AFCON/World Cup qualifier matches after drawing 1-1 with Gambia in 2019 and 0-0 eSwatini in 2019 as well.

Djibouti still have hopes of redeeming themselves in the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers where they are in Group A with Egypt, Burkina Faso, Guinea-Bissau, Sierra Leone, and Ethiopia. While they have already lost their first two matches (6-0 away to Egypt and 1-0 at home to Guinea-Bissau), desirable results against their other three opponents in the groups should do well for their pride.

Djibouti’s next matches will be in the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers in June when they are set to play against Sierra Leone and Ethiopia.