AFCON 2027 (Q): Monsanto confident as São Tomé & Príncipe prepare for Ethiopia

São Tomé & Príncipe national team head coach Ricardo Monsanto said his charges are beaming with confidence ahead of their 2027 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifying doubleheader against Ethiopia in March. The Portuguese trainer cited São Tomé’s recent performances in 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifying as the reason for their growing confidence.

The CAF TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations Pamoja 2027 preliminary round draw is here.👇

Who are you backing? 🤩 pic.twitter.com/pFlt512L5i

— CAF Online (@CAF_Online) January 13, 2026

Monsanto told Jornal Desportivo STP that the win over Malawi in 2025 gave them a boost ahead of facing Ethiopia in the AFCON qualifiers. “The excellent games played gave us hope that victories would come, and that happened against Malawi, a national team that was about 70 places ahead of us in the FIFA rankings. This result allowed us to climb from 195th to 189th place in the ranking,” he emphasized.

The 47-year-old coach has already spent two years with the island nation. He stated that Ethiopia now looks stronger than it did 11 years ago, when São Tomé lost 1-3 on aggregate to the East African nation in the preliminary round of 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifying. “Today’s Ethiopia is stronger than it was 11 years ago, but São Tomé & Príncipe is also much stronger. We feel that we are growing a lot and that this young team has made very positive strides.”

São Tomé & Príncipe will host Ethiopia in Morocco, with the second leg to be played in Dire Dawa, Ethiopia. Monsanto acknowledged that, after the accreditation given to Dire Dawa Stadium, his side will face a tough task in the return leg. “We know that playing in Ethiopia will not be easy, but it is this fire test that this new generation will have to overcome to show that they already have more international quality. Our commitment is to never give up, and we are going into this playoff with the aim of progressing.”

São Tomé & Príncipe has never qualified for AFCON since it began participating in the qualifiers in 2000. It withdrew from the qualifiers in 2004 and 2010 and did not enter the qualifiers in 2008.