The number of African nations to play in the 2026 World Cup has been increased from five to nine according the Confederation of African Football, CAF.
CAF in a statement released on Friday, explained “the new format has been adapted in line with FIFA’s expanded World Cup format and will involve all the 54 Member Associations of CAF who will be divided into nine (9) Groups”.
Winners of each group will automatically qualify for the FIFA World Cup 2026 while the four best runners-up (from the Groups) will play in a CAF Play-Off tournament.
The winner of (CAF Play-Off tournament) will play in the FIFA Play-off Tournament.
What does the change mean?
Prior to this announcement, qualifying for the world cup had involved national teams overcoming waves of group stage matches.
First, 28 teams (ranked 27–54 under the FIFA African zone) played home-and-away matches in two legs. The 14 winners advanced to the second round.
The 14 winners then join 40 teams ranked 1–26 and are split into ten groups to play home and away matches.
Ten winners emerge from this stage to advance to the third round. In the final round, the teams play two round games (home and away) with five teams emerging as winners and who automatically qualify for the World Cup.
However, the new criteria has wiped the plate clean but then it means all teams will fight harder for placements in the World Cup because of the numbers of those competing at the same time.
The 2026 World Cup will be jointly hosted by the United States, Mexico and Canada from Jun 11, 2026 to Jul 19, 2026.
In 2017, FIFA, football announced it would expand the World Cup to 48 teams, adding 16 extra nations to the 2026 tournament.
CAF's Executive Committee announced that the Official Draw of the FIFA World Cup 2026 African Qualifiers will be on July 12, 2023 in Cotonou, the capital of Benin.
