Kenya men’s national football team – Harambee Stars – were on Thursday 4 July pooled in Group J of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations Qualifiers, where they will take on five-time champions Cameroon, Namibia and Zimbabwe.Kenya, who missed out on the last two editions after successful qualification in 2019, will have to finish in the top two positions in the group, to be among the 24 nations that will grace the African football showpiece event in Morocco from 21 December 2025 to 18 January 2026.With qualification set to take place later this year – September and November – Mozzart Sport takes a broad look into the group opponents, and how their odds stack up.Harambee Stars land favourable draw in 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiersCameroonWill probably be the toughest team Kenya faces on the road to Morocco, and not only because of their superior FIFA Ranking of 49 as compared to Kenya’s 108.Cameroon are not new to the African Cup of Nations – a tournament they have qualified for 21 times – and won it five times, recently in 2017 when they beat perennial victors Egypt 2-1 in Gabon.On a historical standpoint, it makes grim reading for Kenya as in the eight fixtures the two nations have matched up against each other, Harambee Stars has not managed to get a win; drawing four and losing four.Firat tips Harambee Stars to punch 2025 AFCON ticketHaving missed out on a chance to play the Indomitable Lions in the 2023 AFCON Qualifiers – where they were also pooled together with Namibia – this year’s clash(es) will be the first between the two at this stage since February and July 1997, where Kenya drew 0-0 and 1-1.Similar results in 2024 would be welcome, but a valid question would be whether Belgian Marc Brys, who has only been in charge of Cameroon since April, will have steadied a rocking ship that limped to the last 16 of the 2023 edition, and with two wins in their last eight matches.NamibiaA team on the rise, just made their fourth appearance at the AFCON this year in Ivory Coast, and recently broke into the top 100 nations in the updated FIFA rankings for the first time since 2017.The team, under 45 year-old head coach Collin Benjamin, is second in their 2026 World Cup Qualifying group – without a loss – and has made the last four of the ongoing 2024 COSAFA Cup in South Africa.##NAJAVA_MECA_8191715##Also to the merited praise, perhaps their biggest moment in AFCON Qualifying history has to be a game against Kenya in 22 June 1997, when Namibia came to Kenya against a well-oiled Reinhard Fabisch team, and walked away with a 1-0 victory, that in hindsight, led them all the way to finishing second in the group, and making it to their first-ever AFCON tournament.That’s definitely the caution Namibia come up with, especially when you factor in their four wins out of six games all-time against Kenya.ZimbabweIf anything, six points against The Warriors should be an expectation for Harambee Stars come September.Ranked a pool-low 129th in the FIFA Rankings, Zimbabwe, only making a return to international football from a FIFA suspension (just like Kenya) have been plummeting in recent years.They are currently winless and bottom of their 2026 World Cup Qualifying group, and just saw their 2024 COSAFA Cup run brought to an end in the group stages.The tormentor in chief of the latter? Kenya.COSAFA Cup: Kenya beat Zimbabwe but have to wait longer to find out semi finals fateRecent meetings between the two nations have been all Kenyan wins – including the 3-1 victory in the Four Nations Tournament in March this year.On head-to-head, Kenya carries a 7-1 advantage, and that should be the case when the two lock horns once again.
