Duarte questions fairness and player welfare in Guinea’s AFCON 2027 qualifying group

Guinea manager Paulo Duarte has launched a strong criticism of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) over the format and scheduling of the Africa Cup of Nations 2027 qualifiers.

With the qualifying campaign due to start in three weeks, Duarte says the arrangements create sporting inequality and place excessive physical demands on international players.

Guinea’s Syli National have been drawn in Group D alongside South Africa, Kenya and Eritrea. They begin their campaign against South Africa’s Bafana Bafana on 26 September 2026 before hosting Kenya at Stade du 28 Septembre in Conakry on 1 October.

Duarte’s first objection concerns the qualification system. Kenya is one of the three countries hosting AFCON 2027 and has therefore already secured a place in the tournament. That means fewer qualification places are available to the other teams in the group.

“In this qualification, there are nine teams that do not have the same possibilities as the others of qualifying. It was a bad decision by CAF that penalises Guinea, South Africa, Eswatini and all the other teams in these groups,” Duarte told Guineenews.

The Portuguese coach, who received an offer from Angola in February, believes groups containing one of the tournament hosts are inherently unfair compared with the other qualifying sections.

Duarte also questioned the way the matches have been scheduled, arguing that the timetable leaves players with too little time to recover between fixtures.

“Why does CAF want to physically massacre the players by making them play one match on the 25th, then another on the 30th or the 1st, while imposing journeys of 10, 15 or 20 hours on the teams?” he said.

The Guinea manager said the international window lasts between 14 and 15 days, which would have allowed CAF to create a greater gap between the two competitive matches.

He highlighted the limited recovery time, the late arrival of international players and the difficulty of holding meaningful training sessions between long-distance journeys.

Guinea also face one of the longest possible trips in African football during the opening round of fixtures. Their first opponents, South Africa, are located at the opposite end of the continent from Guinea.

“We have drawn the furthest possible opponent: South Africa, at the other end of the continent in relation to Guinea,” Duarte said.

His plan is for the squad to return to Conakry immediately after the opening match, with the aim of reducing the effects of travel and fatigue before the home game against Kenya.

That leaves Guinea facing what Duarte regards as a rapid and demanding preparation period: a long journey to South Africa, a short recovery window and then a second qualifier only days later.

For the coach, the sequence illustrates the shortcomings of a calendar he does not understand and reinforces his belief that the current qualifying arrangements fail to provide equal conditions for all participating teams.