Guinea-Bissau vs Nigeria on Tuesday, September 29, will decide who leads Group L of the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers, with the Super Eagles travelling to Bissau for a 5pm Nigerian time kick-off at the Estádio Nacional 24 de Setembro. Eric Chelle’s side go into the game level on three points with their hosts, but second on goal difference after Guinea-Bissau won 2-0 in Tanzania on matchday one.
AFCON 2027 Qualifier, Group L · Matchday 2
Preview
Estádio Nacional 24 de Setembro, Bissau · Tuesday 29 September 2026, 5:00pm WAT
According to the travel schedule shared by the Super Eagles media office, the squad was due to hold a closed-door session in Uyo on Sunday morning before flying out of Victor Attah International Airport in the afternoon. That leaves only one full day on the ground in Bissau before a game that already carries real weight in a four-team group.
Why one qualifying ticket makes every Group L point heavier
| # | Club | P | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Form |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Guinea-Bissau | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | +2 | 3 | Won |
| 2 | Nigeria | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | +1 | 3 | Won |
| 3 | Madagascar | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | -1 | 0 | Lost |
| 4 | Tanzania | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | -2 | 0 | Lost |
After matchday 1. Tanzania qualify as co-hosts, so the best-placed of the other three teams takes the group's second ticket.
Group L, drawn by CAF in May, contains Tanzania, one of the three co-hosts of the tournament alongside Kenya and Uganda. Under CAF’s qualifying rules for AFCON Pamoja 2027, groups with a co-host send the host plus only the best-placed of the other teams to the finals. Nigeria, Guinea-Bissau and Madagascar are therefore competing for a single ticket, which is why a defeat in Bissau would hand the hosts a three-point cushion and the head-to-head edge this early in the campaign.
Guinea-Bissau underlined their intent on Friday when Franculino Djú and Mama Baldé scored either side of half-time to beat Tanzania 2-0 away from home. Madagascar host Tanzania in the other matchday two fixture earlier on Tuesday, so Nigeria should know before kick-off whether a draw would keep them within touching distance of the top.
What the Madagascar comeback told Chelle about this squad
Nigeria’s 2-1 win over Madagascar in Uyo was not comfortable. The visitors went ahead with a header in the 16th minute, and Alex Iwobi had a goal ruled out for a foul on the goalkeeper before debutant George Ilenikhena levelled just before the break. Another first-timer, Moses Usor, won it in the second half within minutes of coming off the bench.
Stanley Nwabali also produced a key one-on-one save early in the second half, and Calvin Bassey was composed against Madagascar’s counter-attacks. For a goalkeeper who has had to fight to reclaim the number one spot, it was a timely performance heading into a hostile away game.
Chelle defended the first-half display after the match. “I don’t think the first half was very bad. Like I said, we made one mistake and after that…we had five or six chances to score a goal,” he told reporters after the Madagascar game. Nigeria started in a 4-4-2 before shifting to a 4-2-3-1, but the coach declined to say which shape he will use in Bissau. “I cannot tell you whether we will play that system or not…we will play that game,” he said.
Nigeria’s strikers are stepping up without Osimhen
Victor Osimhen isn’t in this squad at all, having been left out of Chelle’s list for the September window because of injury, and Taiwo Awoniyi was called up to replace him. Nigeria’s forwards have handled the responsibility well so far, with Ilenikhena’s equaliser on his debut against Madagascar showing the attack can still find a way without its main man. Awoniyi and Tolu Arokodare, who both came off the bench in Uyo, give Chelle two more direct options through the middle in Bissau.
Nigeria do miss Osimhen’s movement and finishing, and that gap is felt most in tight away games like this one. The forwards around him have kept the goals coming, though, and with Ademola Lookman, Akor Adams, Samuel Chukwueze, Moses Simon and Iwobi supporting them, the Super Eagles have enough attacking quality to trouble Guinea-Bissau on Tuesday.
Guinea-Bissau, coached by Emiliano Té, named a 25-man squad drawn from clubs across Europe, the Americas and the Middle East. Their squad list includes Galatasaray midfielder Renato Nhaga, Athletic Bilbao forward Álvaro Djaló and Mama Baldé, who scored against Tanzania. Franculino Djú, the other scorer in that win, gives Té a second forward in form heading into Tuesday.
Recent history favours Nigeria, but Guinea-Bissau have hurt them before
Nigeria have won three of the last four meetings between the sides, including 2-0 at the 2022 AFCON and 1-0 at the 2023 edition in Côte d’Ivoire. The one defeat in that run came in March 2023, when Guinea-Bissau won 1-0 in Nigeria during AFCON qualifying before the Super Eagles won the return fixture in Bissau by the same score four days later.
That Bissau win is a useful reference point for a squad that has changed a great deal since. Chelle, who signed an improved contract with the NFF in the summer, said before the campaign started that his side had to “show everyone from Day One that we want it”. A win on Tuesday would put Nigeria top of the group heading into the November double-header, while a draw keeps the race open. Defeat would leave the Super Eagles chasing a Guinea-Bissau side that would then hold the tiebreaker, with only four games left to recover and one ticket on offer.
