The small west African country of 1.7 million people, a former Portuguese colony beset by political instability, made sure of a place in the finals in Gabon next January by taking an unassailable lead in their qualifying group at the weekend.
Guinea Bissau's 3-2 home win over 2012 champions Zambia on Saturday, combined with defeat for closest challengers Congo in Kenya on Sunday, means they are the 39th country to participate in the finals since the first tournament in 1957.
But they were a Leicester City-like long shot when the qualifiers began one year ago, having only previously won four matches in Nations Cup and World Cup qualification combined since first entering international competition 22 years ago.
Their motley collection of players from lower league clubs in Portugal and Guinea Bissau's own league, which is run on semi-professional lines, were given no chance against the likes of Congo, Kenya and Zambia in Group E. But after three victories in their five group games, including a first away triumph in Nairobi in March, they now have a place among the African footballing elite.
Saturday's success over the powerful Zambians is even more surprising because the team refused to train for three days leading up to the game in protest at their federation's failure to pay them their promised appearance fees for their previous qualifying matches.
Their Portuguese coach Paulo Torres left at the end of last year because he had not been paid either. One of their former football federation presidents was jailed for stealing from the sport’s coffers.
COUP D'ETAT
Guinea-Bissau is one of the world's poorest countries, ranked in the bottom 10 in the United Nation's human development index. Since independence in 1974, no leader has served a full term and only last week the president dismissed the government amid claims it had proved incapable of managing a months-long political crisis. Sacked Prime Minister Carlos Correia denounced the move as a "constitutional coup d'etat".
Achieving against the odds, after breaking with accepted standards of preparation and planning, has long been an African football tradition.
Cameroon reached the 1990 World Cup quarter-finals despite playing no warm-up matches besides a handful of scrimmages against Yugoslav club sides.
Zimbabwe also qualified for the 2017 Nations Cup on Sunday amid a continuing crisis over alleged match fixing and despite a bankrupt football association. Zimbabwe’s national team subsists from match to match with the financial support of publicity-seeking benefactors.
(Editing by Clare Lovell)
