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The continent will have nine places at the
expanded 48-team tournament in North America and have decided on
a format of nine groups, where the winner alone will qualify for
the World Cup, the Confederation of African Football announced
on Friday.
Africa previously had up to three stages of qualification --
preliminary rounds involving the lower ranked countries, then a
group stage followed by two-legged playoffs to decide the five
representatives the continent has previously had at the finals.
For last year's tournament in Qatar, the entire African
qualifying process was squashed into a six-month period but for
2026 it will take 23 months before the identity of the nine
finalists are known.
The draw for the nine groups will be made in Cotonou, Benin on
July 12, CAF said.
It gave no further explanation but is expecting all 54 African
countries to enter, meaning each group will be made up of six
nations, and will likely seed teams for the draw according to
the latest FIFA rankings.
The qualifiers will kick off in November before continuing in
June next year and there will be three separate windows in
March, September and October 2025 to conclude the groups.
The four best runners-up from the groups will play in a CAF
playoff tournament in November 2025 and the winners of that will
compete in the FIFA playoff tournament in March 2026 for a
possible 10th African slot.
This playoff tournament will involve six teams to decide the
final two World Cup berths. The six teams will be one from each
confederation, except Europe, and one additional team from the
confederation of the host countries (CONCACAF).
The World Cup finals in Canada, Mexico and the U.S are being
played in mid-2026.
World football’s governing body FIFA has already announced that
the final will be played on July 19.
(Reporting by Mark Gleeson; Editing by Ken Ferris)
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