Africa’s World Cup qualifying draw launches new format and at least 9 teams toward 2026 event

LONDON: Nigeria and South Africa were drawn in the same World Cup qualifying group on Thursday in a re-shaped African competition that will lead to at least nine teams at the 2026 showpiece in the US, Canada and Mexico.

The enlarged 48-team World Cup in three years’ time means Africa’s places are up from five to nine, with the possibility of a 10th African team making it through an inter-continental playoff.

In the new African format, just the winners of the nine six-team groups are guaranteed a place at the World Cup. The four best second-place teams enter African playoffs and the one that comes through those makes it to an inter-continental mini-tournament, where the two final teams at the World Cup will be decided.

World Cup semifinalists Morocco, the first African or Arab team to make the last four after their surprising run in Qatar last year, are in a group where their sternest tests will likely come from 2012 African champions Zambia and Niger.

The African qualifiers will be played from November to October 2025.

Benin, Zimbabwe, Rwanda and Lesotho are the other teams in Group C with Nigeria and South Africa. Zimbabwe were included in the draw after FIFA lifted an international ban on the country on Tuesday. Zimbabwe were suspended in February 2022 because of government interference in their soccer federation.

Morocco, Zambia and Niger are in Group E with Republic of Congo, Tanzania and Eritrea, which are ranked 200 out of FIFA’s 211 teams.

The draw followed the Confederation of African Football’s general assembly in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, the West African country that will host the next African Cup of Nations in January-February.

Defending African champions Senegal will play Congo, Mauritania, Togo, Sudan