Algeria Beat Zambia by Three Goals to One in Tizi Ouzou

Reviewed by Aaron Mubanga Jnr
Zambia sports betting writer
Published 28 September 2026

Algeria beat Zambia by three goals to one in Tizi Ouzou on 25 September in the opening round of AFCON 2027 qualifying, and Fashion Sakala scored Zambia’s goal.

Jaouen Hadjam scored for Algeria in the second minute. Sakala levelled in the fifty seventh. Ibrahim Maza put Algeria back in front in the sixty seventh and Anis Hadj Moussa scored in the seventy fourth.

Group I after one matchday

Group I is Algeria, Zambia, Togo and Burundi. Togo beat Burundi by a goal to nil on the same matchday, Dermane scoring in the seventeenth minute, so Algeria and Togo have three points and Zambia and Burundi none.

Zambia host Togo on 29 September. That is the other match in the window the squad named for Algeria and Togo was picked for.

What the group carries

CAF’s rule is that the first two teams in each group qualify for the 2027 finals, except in Groups D, H and L, where Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania are already through as hosts and only the highest ranked team outside the host advances. Group I has no host in it, so it carries two places. Group L does have one, which is the position Nigeria are in.

The group runs to six matchdays, so a defeat in Algeria settles nothing. Follow the campaign in Zambia sports news from AXN Sports.