Gruelling African World Cup qualifying gets under way

CAPE TOWN : More places for Africa at the next World Cup finals has not lessened the intensity of the qualifying process, often described as the toughest in world football, and which kicks off this week.

Qualification for the 2026 tournament has begun in Asia and South America, and Africa starts its two-year qualifying campaign on Wednesday to determine who will fill the nine automatic places for the continent at the event co-hosted by Canada, Mexico and the U.S.

The expansion of the World Cup from 32 to 48 teams means Africa’s quotas of finalists is increased from five to nine, with the possibility of another place through a new playoff system that has been introduced.

The long distances to travel, combined with poor and infrequent flight connections, extreme climatic conditions, Spartan facilities and a culture of hostility towards visiting teams have earned Africa’s qualifying process a reputation for being the hardest of the six continental confederations.

Carlos Queiroz, who coached Colombia, Egypt, Iran, Portugal, South Africa and now Qatar, once described the African preliminaries as "a nightmare".

For the 2026 World Cup, the 54 African entrants were divided into nine groups with only the winners assured of a place at the finals.

The four best-ranked runners-up will participate in a playoff to determine one team that will go onto the new-style intercontinental playoff tournament, in which one side from each continent will meet in a mini tournament to determine the last two places in the World Cup line-up.

A total of 13 African countries, starting with Egypt in 1934, have played at the World Cup finals. Cameroon are the most frequent participants with eight finals appearances.

They begin their campaign with a home match