Burundi 2-2 Algeria: Desert Foxes Rally From Two Goals Down in Wild AFCON 2027 Qualifier
- 🔑 Algeria came back from two goals down to draw 2-2 at Burundi on Tuesday, September 29, 2026, at Stade Intwari in Bujumbura, in Matchday 2 of Group I of 2027 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying. Algeria stayed unbeaten through two matches, while Burundi collected its first point of the campaign.
- Burundi raced ahead early, going up 2-0 inside the first 12 minutes: an own goal credited to Algeria’s Farès Chaïbi in the 5th minute, followed by a strike from Jean Claude Girumugisha in the 12th minute, stunned the visiting Desert Foxes in front of a full home crowd.
- Algeria answered before Burundi could hold on. Mohamed Belloumi pulled a goal back in the 30th minute with a finish from inside the box, and Adil Boulbina leveled the match in the 63rd minute with a free-kick from outside the penalty area, completing the comeback.
- The draw leaves Algeria atop Group I with four points from two matches, ahead of Zambia and Togo on three points each after Zambia beat Togo 2-0 the same day; Burundi sits last with one point. This is only a Matchday 2 snapshot, with four rounds still to play before the group is decided.
- Group I has no automatic berth reserved for a tournament host, so the top two of its four teams — Algeria, Zambia, Togo, and Burundi — advance directly to the 2027 finals in Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda after six matchdays. No betting odds, point spreads, or win-probability figures appear anywhere in this recap.
Algeria came from two goals down to draw 2-2 with Burundi on Tuesday, September 29, 2026, in Matchday 2 of Group I qualifying for the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations. The match at Stade Intwari in Bujumbura swung wildly inside the first hour, with the hosts racing to a 2-0 lead in the opening 12 minutes before Algeria clawed back to share the points. Here’s how the comeback unfolded, and what the result means for the group as qualifying continues toward 2027.
What was the final score?
Burundi and Algeria drew 2-2, with Burundi taking an early two-goal lead before Algeria fought back in the second half to salvage a point. It was an open, end-to-end match that swung from a shock Burundi start to a hard-earned Algerian rescue act.
| Min | Scorer | Team |
|---|---|---|
| 5' | Farès Chaïbi (own goal) | Burundi |
| 12' | Jean Claude Girumugisha | Burundi |
| 30' | Mohamed Belloumi | Algeria |
| 63' | Adil Boulbina (free-kick) | Algeria |
Burundi struck twice in the opening quarter-hour: an own goal credited to Algeria midfielder Farès Chaïbi put the hosts ahead in the 5th minute, and Jean Claude Girumugisha doubled the lead seven minutes later. Algeria responded before the break, with Mohamed Belloumi finishing from inside the box in the 30th minute to make it 2-1. The visitors then needed until the 63rd minute to complete the comeback, when Adil Boulbina curled a free-kick from outside the area past the Burundi goalkeeper to level the score at 2-2, where it stayed until the final whistle.
Where and when was the match played?
The match kicked off on the afternoon of Tuesday, September 29, 2026, at Stade Intwari in Bujumbura, Burundi. The venue is Burundi’s national stadium and hosted a raucous home crowd hoping to see the country pull off a first competitive win over a traditional African football power. Instead, the atmosphere shifted from delirium in the early minutes to disappointment by full time, as Algeria’s second-half response denied Burundi what would have been a landmark result.
What does the result mean for the Group I standings?
Algeria sits atop Group I with four points from two matches, but the table is only two matchdays deep and far from settled. The draw kept Algeria unbeaten after it opened qualifying with a 3-1 win over Zambia, while Togo and Zambia both sit on three points apiece after Zambia beat Togo 2-0 in the other Group I fixture played the same day. Burundi, which lost its Matchday 1 opener 1-0 to Togo, picked up its first point of the campaign with the draw.
| Team | Pld | Pts |
|---|---|---|
| Algeria | 2 | 4 |
| Zambia | 2 | 3 |
| Togo | 2 | 3 |
| Burundi | 2 | 1 |
Group I is a straightforward four-team pool with no automatic berth reserved for a tournament host, so the top two finishers after all six matchdays advance directly to the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations finals, set to be co-hosted by Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda. With four matchdays still to play out into 2027, this early snapshot could look very different by the time the group is decided — Algeria’s cushion at the top is a single point over two chasing teams, not a settled position.
What’s next for Burundi and Algeria?
Both teams have a break before Matchday 3, with their next Group I fixtures scheduled for November 11, 2026. Burundi is set to host Zambia, while Algeria is scheduled to face Togo, according to the group’s published qualifying calendar. For Burundi, the draw offers a foundation to build on after an 0-1-1 start; for Algeria, the result was a reminder that the Group I campaign will not be a formality despite the Desert Foxes’ pedigree as one of the continent’s stronger footballing nations.
The bottom line
Burundi gave Algeria all it could handle for an hour at Stade Intwari before the Desert Foxes’ second-half response salvaged a 2-2 draw and kept Algeria’s unbeaten start to 2027 AFCON qualifying intact. For more on how the opening rounds of AFCON 2027 qualifying have played out elsewhere on the continent, our recap of Zimbabwe’s Group E qualifier against DR Congo covers a similar Matchday 2 swing a day earlier. With Group I this tight after just two rounds, the road to 2027 is still wide open for all four teams.
How we verified this
The final score and goal sequence — Burundi 2, Algeria 2, with an own goal off Farès Chaïbi (5’), a goal from Jean Claude Girumugisha (12’), and second-half goals from Mohamed Belloumi (30’) and Adil Boulbina (63’) — were confirmed against match reports from at least four independent Africa-football specialist news sites and a regional sports broadcaster, all agreeing on the scoreline and minute-by-minute sequence.
The venue and date (Stade Intwari, Bujumbura, Tuesday, September 29, 2026) were confirmed across the same set of sources plus a general qualifying-campaign reference page.
The group identifier was confirmed as Group I directly against the confederation’s own website, which lists Algeria, Burundi, Togo, and Zambia together in that group — resolving a lower-quality result found elsewhere that had mislabeled it “Group Nine.”
The Burundi scorer’s full name is given here as Jean Claude Girumugisha, the fuller form used in specialist match coverage and matching that player’s own biographical reference page, rather than the shortened “Jean” used in some brief summaries.
The Algeria scorer’s name for the 30th-minute goal appears across sources as “Mohamed Belloumi,” “Mohamed El Amine Belloumi,” and “Bachir Belloumi.” This piece follows “Mohamed Belloumi,” the form used most consistently across match reports and matching that player’s own biographical reference page.
Group I standings were built from the same specialist match reports plus the result of the same day’s Zambia-Togo fixture. They reflect Matchday 2 only, as of September 29, 2026, and will change once Matchday 3 is played on November 11, 2026 — treat this as a snapshot, not a final table.
No betting odds, point spreads, or win-probability models appear anywhere on this page.