Twenty-two games unbeaten: Belmadi's Algeria await the Chipolopolo in Tizi Ouzou

Zambia's road to AFCON 2027 begins at the hardest address in the group: Algeria away, Friday 25 September, kick-off 21:00 CAT in Tizi Ouzou. The Football Association of Zambia's own briefing makes the scale of the task plain — Djamel Belmadi's side are unbeaten in 22 matches.

Interim coach George Lwandamina takes a 27-man squad into his first competitive match since succeeding Avram Grant, with Patson Daka — now at Hamburg SV — wearing the armband. Gamphani Lungu and Liteta arrived late to complete the camp; German-based Andrew Sinkala was excused by the federation. Group I also contains Togo and Burundi, with only two tickets to the finals in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda.

History offers both warnings and hope. When the sides last met in qualifying in 2021, Zambia lost 5-0 in the first meeting before a ragged, stirring 3-3 draw in the return — a match Lwandamina remembers from the technical bench, having been part of Aggrey Chiyangi's staff in Blida in 2019.

The schedule is unforgiving but survivable: after Friday, Togo come to the Levy Mwanawasa Stadium in Ndola on Tuesday 29 September (16:00 GMT), and a Burundi double-header follows in the November window. The campaign closes in March 2027 with Algeria at home and Togo away.

Nothing is decided in Tizi Ouzou, and everything is measured there. A point would be a statement; a performance would be a start. Zambia's qualifiers are won in Ndola and Bujumbura — but they are believed, or not, on nights like Friday.

Sources: FAZ squad and camp updates (Sep 2026); AFCON 2027 qualifiers fixture list via Zambian Football Data (Jul 2026) and BolaNews (May 2026); ZNBC (15 Sep 2026); Lusaka Times sport (Sep 2026).