The Confederation of African Football (CAF), on the sidelines of its 45th Ordinary General Assembly held in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire on Thursday, drew lots based on six hats for the next world cup.
On December 18, Argentina beat France in a thrilling final (3-3, penalty kicks 4-2). At this World Cup, Africa, through Morocco, achieved its best ever performance in the competition by reaching the semi-finals.
Seven months later, the selections from the 54 countries of the black continent were divided into nine groups of six teams to determine the qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup, which will be hosted by the USA, Canada and Mexico.
For this 48-team event, the top teams in each group will qualify directly for the tournament. The four best runners-up will take part in a mini-tournament in November 2025. The winner will take part in
the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) play-offs in March 2026. This will pit six teams from different confederations against each other, with two tickets up for grabs. It is therefore
possible that Africa will be represented by ten countries at the North American World Cup.
The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has already scheduled the ten rounds of these first-of-its-kind qualifiers for the zone: Round 1 and 2 (November 13-21, 2023), Round 3 and 4 (June 3-11, 2024), Round 5
and 6 (March 17-25, 2025), Round 7 and 8 (September 1-9, 2025), Round 9 and 10 (October 6-14, 2025). The CAF play-off tournament will be played from November 10-18, 2025.
Having presided over the 45th Ordinary General Assembly, CAF President Patrice Motsepe declared that “Morocco’s qualification for the semi-finals of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar (…) demonstrates a strong
improvement in the competitiveness of African soccer at world level. It gives us reason to believe that our goal of having an African nation win the World Cup is within reach.”
Composition of the various groups
Group A: Egypt, Burkina Faso, Guinea Bissau, Sierra Leone, Ethiopia
and Djibouti.
Group B: Senegal, DR Congo, Mauritania, Togo, Sudan and South Sudan.
Group C: Nigeria, South Africa, Benin, Zimbabwe, Rwanda and Lesotho.
Group D: Cameroon, Cabo Verde, Angola, Libya, Eswatini and Mauritius.
Group E: Morocco, Zambia, Congo, Tanzania, Niger and Eritrea.
Group F: Cote d’Ivoire, Gabon, Kenya, Gambia, Burundi and Seychelles.
Group G: Algeria, Guinea, Uganda, Mozambique, Botswana and Somalia.
Group H: Tunisia, Equatorial Guinea, Namibia, Malawi, Liberia and São
Tomé and Príncipe.
Group I: Mali, Ghana, Madagascar, Central African Republic, Comoros and Chad.
ID/ac/fss/APA