{"id":55525,"date":"2026-04-09T15:32:18","date_gmt":"2026-04-09T15:32:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/?p=55525"},"modified":"2026-04-09T15:32:18","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T15:32:18","slug":"eritrea-players-disappear-in-south-africa-after-winning-afcon-qualifier","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/2026\/04\/09\/eritrea-players-disappear-in-south-africa-after-winning-afcon-qualifier\/","title":{"rendered":"Eritrea players disappear in South Africa after winning AFCON qualifier"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\" async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- Africa tv video display -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"3579572842\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\">\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<p><h2>The seven are believed to have disappeared when the national team arrived in South Africa en route from Eswatini to Eritrea.<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Only three of 10 local footballers in an Eritrea squad returned home after a 2027 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier, a Confederation of African Football (CAF) official told AFP on Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p>The other seven are believed to have disappeared when the national team arrived in South Africa en route from Eswatini to Eritrea via Egypt, said the official, who requested anonymity.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis incident is a mystery. Eritrea beat Eswatini on March 31 in Lobamba and no one seems certain what happened thereafter,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe believe all the players left Eswatini for South Africa. But when the travelling party landed in Cairo, seven players were missing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A member of the Eritrean community in South Africa told AFP he had seen several of the missing footballers in Johannesburg, but declined to give further details, citing safety concerns.<\/p>\n<p>AFP understands the seven missing players include goalkeepers Kibrom Solomon and Awet Maharena and defenders Wedeb Fessehaye, Yosief Tsegay and Nahom Awet.<\/p>\n<p>Veteran midfielder Medhane Redie and striker Amanuel Benhur were the other defectors, who have joined dozens of Eritrean footballers who abandoned national teams when in other African states.<\/p>\n<p>Those who returned to Asmara were captain Ablelom Teklezghi, fellow midfielder Nahom Tadese and striker Romel Abdu.<\/p>\n<p>The United Nations estimates about 80 Eritreans involved in football, including players, coaches and officials, have defected during the past 20 years.<\/p>\n<p>Indefinite military service after completing schooling is cited as the main reason for the defections from the east African country.<\/p>\n<p>Eritrea has been governed by President Isaias Afwerki since gaining independence from Ethiopia in 1993 and human rights groups consistently describe his rule as \u201chighly repressive\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>During a state visit to Kenya three years ago, Afwerki said such allegations were \u201cfantasy\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Recently appointed Eritrea coach Hesham Yakan, a defender in the Egypt 1990 World Cup squad, chose 24 players, including 14 based abroad, for the two-leg preliminary qualifier against Eswatini.<\/p>\n<p>His selection included Eritreans based in Australia, Egypt, England, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, the Philippines and Sweden.<\/p>\n<p>Ali Suleiman from Egyptian top-flight side Ismailia Electricity Club scored three goals as Eritrea won 2-0 and 2-1 to qualify for the main qualifying phase, which will comprise 12 four-team groups.<\/p>\n<p>The first leg against Eswatini was staged in Moroccan city Meknes because Eritrea does not have an international-standard stadium.<\/p>\n<p>It was the first Cup of Nations match involving Eritrea since 2007. Subsequently, they competed in three World Cup qualifying competitions and also several regional tournaments.<\/p>\n<p>During trips outside the country, players from both Eritrean senior and under-age national teams regularly disappeared and sought asylum.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div>\n<h3>Support Local Journalism<\/h3>\n<p>Add The Citizen as a Preferred Source on Google and follow us on Google News to see more of our trusted reporting in Google News and Top Stories.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\" async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- Africa tv video display -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-1669381584671856\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"3579572842\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\">\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n#Eritrea #players #disappear #South #Africa #winning #AFCON #qualifier<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The seven are believed to have disappeared when the national team arrived in South Africa en route from Eswatini to&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":55526,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-55525","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mzansi"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55525","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55525"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55525\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":55527,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55525\/revisions\/55527"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/55526"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55525"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55525"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eduzim.co.zw\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55525"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}