Diaspora gives Eritrea football a new face

Not much is known about Eritrean football, largely because the Horn of Africa nation is one of the world's most closed societies. The country's tightly controlled public life and limited access to information have also made it difficult to follow developments in its football.
For years, Eritrea was largely absent from international football, and the possibility of players defecting while travelling abroad added to the challenges of sending the national team abroad. 

That painful history resurfaced earlier this year when the Red Sea Camels returned to the international stage for the first time in years. After their 2027 Africa Cup of Nations preliminary-round victory over Eswatini in March, seven of the 10 home-based players in the squad reportedly remained in South Africa and sought asylum rather than return to Eritrea. 

Now, as Eritrea prepares to face Bafana Bafana in an Afcon Group D qualifier in Cairo on Wednesday, the national team is taking on a distinctly different complexion. 

Kick-off at the Al-Salam Stadium is at 6pm South African time. 

The squad assembled by former Egypt international Hesham Yakan is made up largely of players born or raised in the diaspora — many of them children of Eritreans who left the country. 

It is a striking irony that some of the players now carrying the national colours were born thousands of kilometres from Eritrea after their parents fled a country notorious for its indefinite national service system and political repression. The new-look side made an encouraging start to its Afcon campaign, holding Kenya to a 1-1 draw in Nairobi on Saturday. 

Swedish-born midfielder Nahom Girmai Netabay, who plays for Swedish club Degerfors, put Eritrea ahead in the 36th minute before Kenya's Ryan Ogam equalised three minutes from time. 

In Cairo, the Camels can expect a sizeable show of support from Eritreans living in Egypt. UNHCR figures show that more than 45,518 Eritrean refugees were registered in Egypt as of June 30, 2026, with refugees and asylum-seekers largely concentrated in urban centres, mainly in Greater Cairo. 

The true size of the Eritrean community may be considerably larger, given the number of people who live outside formal registration systems or regard Egypt as a transit point on journeys towards Europe.

 

The diaspora is also reflected in the players themselves. Left-back Jonas Idris was born in Egypt and raised in Denmark, while Saudi Arabia-born Ali Sulieman has spent much of his career in Egypt. Both have connections that made them eligible to represent countries other than Eritrea before choosing to play for their parents' homeland. 

Eritrea's starting XI against Bafana is expected to retain much of the side that frustrated Kenya, including teenage goalkeeper Yonathan Sultan, who was born in Australia and impressed in Nairobi. 

Home-based midfielder Ablelom Teklezgi is also expected to retain the captain's armband. For a country whose football has been obscured by years of isolation, this is a rare moment in the spotlight. 

And while Bafana Bafana arrive in Cairo with a deeper pool of established international players behind them, Eritrea's emerging diaspora-based team has already shown it can't be judged solely by its limited profile. South Africa will have to deal with a side that, despite being little known to many, including in Eritrea itself, has begun a new chapter in its international football story.