Ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, countries are putting in the work to ensure healthy participation including African countries, here, we give you detailed insight on dates, qualifying format, and the number of tickets to the next FIFA World Cup and the FIFA play-off tournament in Africa.
Having missed out on the 2022 Qatar World Cup, Super Eagles of Nigeria who are currently 50th in the latest FIFA rankings will be hoping to get the ticket to the 2026 edition to redeem themselves and give back the country the pride of participation as an African giant in the 2026 edition.
Nine African teams will participate in the final phase of the World Cup 26 as one will go to the play-off tournament and with the Africa Zone (CAF) qualifiers for the 26 FIFA World Cup set to begin on 13 November 2023, it will end in November 2025.
It will be noteworthy to know that Cameroon has featured in the FIFA WC eight times, the most of an African country followed by Morocco with six appearances same number as Nigeria and Tunisia, Ghana and Algeria four, Senegal, Egypt, South Africa, Côte d’Ivoire all tied on three while DR Congo (under the banner of Zaire), Angola and Togo have just made only one appearance.
Qualification Process
The African qualifiers will be played across two rounds. The first will be contested in the form of a group stage, with nine groups of six teams each. Each team will play two matches, home and away, against each of their opponents. The top finisher in each group will qualify for World Cup 26.
The second round will pit the four best runners-up in two one-off semi-finals, followed by a final. The winner of this second round will participate in the FIFA Play-off Tournament.
GROUP A Egypt Burkina Faso Guinea-Bissau Sierra Leone Ethiopia Djibouti
GROUP B Senegal Congo DR Mauritania Togo Sudan South Sudan
GROUP C Nigeria South Africa Benin Zimbabwe Rwanda Lesotho
GROUP D Cameroon Cape Verde Angola Libya Eswatini Mauritius
GROUP E Morocco Zambia Congo Tanzania Niger Eritrea
GROUP F Côte d’Ivoire Gabon Kenya The Gambia Burundi Seychelles
GROUP G Algeria Guinea Uganda Mozambique Botswana Somalia
GROUP H Tunisia Equatorial Guinea Namibia Malawi Liberia Sao Tome e Principe
GROUP I Mali Ghana Madagascar Central African Republic Comoros Chad
Important Dates
13-21 November 2023: 1st and 2nd matchdays 3-11 June 2024: 3rd and 4th matchdays 17-25 March 2025: 5th and 6th matchdays 1-9 September 2025: 7th and 8th matchdays 6-14 October 2025: 9th and 10th matchdays 10-18 November 2025: CAF playoff tournament
FIFA Play-Off Tournament
The FIFA Play-Off Tournament will see six sides fight it out for the final two places at the 23rd FIFA World Cup. It will involve two teams from CONCACAF and one team apiece from the AFC, CAF, CONMEBOL, and OFC.
The four lowest-ranked nations will meet in bracket semi-finals. The two highest-ranked teams will go directly into the finals. The winners of the two bracket finals will reach the FIFA World Cup 26.
