Eritrea players missing after win over Sihlangu

Mbabane – Seven players from the Eritrean national football team have reportedly gone missing in South Africa after their side secured qualification to the group stage of the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations at the expense of Eswatini.

The players disappeared following the second leg of the preliminary qualifiers, where Eritrea defeated Sihlangu Semnikati 2 to 1. The match, which sealed Eritrea’s progress to the next round, was played in South Africa as part of the qualification campaign for the continental tournament.

According to reports, 10 players who are active in Eritrea’s domestic league had travelled for the fixture. Of those, only three returned home after the match. The trio who made the journey back are Ablum Teklezgi, Nahom Tadesse and Rommel Abdu.

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The whereabouts of the remaining seven players remain unknown. Reports published by the newspaper Micky Jnr describe the incident as a “defection,” alleging that the players refused to return to their home country after the match.

This development adds to a pattern that has followed the Eritrean national team, known as the Red Sea Boys, for nearly two decades. Since 2006, several players from the East African nation have reportedly failed to return home after participating in international assignments abroad.