Nigeria in Pot 1 as draw for 2026 World Cup African qualifiers hold July 13

The Super Eagles have been drawn in Pot 1 of the 2026 FIFA World Cup African qualifiers, which draw will hold in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire on July 13, 2023.

The 2026 FIFA World Cup will be hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico. The seedings, released by the world football governing body yesterday, were based on the FIFA rankings for June.

Nigeria was seeded in the same pot with Morocco, Senegal, Tunisia, Algeria, Egypt, Cameroun, Mali and Cote d’Ivoire. This means that the Super Eagles will not meet any of the teams in Pot 1 in the group stages.

The qualification format will have nine groups of six teams, with the winners from each qualifying for the finals because Africa’s slots were increased to at least nine and a maximum of 10.

The four best runners-up will be drawn in a mini-playoff to find one extra team that will advance to the Intercontinental playoffs. In Pot 2 are Burkina Faso, Ghana, South Africa, Cape Verde, DR Congo, Guinea, Zambia, Gabon and Equatorial Guinea, while Pot 3 has Uganda, Benin, Kenya, Mauritania, Congo, Madagascar, Guinea Bissau, Namibia, and Angola.

Mozambique, Gambia, Sierra Leone, Togo, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Central African Republic, Malawi and Libya are in Pot 4, Pot 5 has Niger, Comoros, Sudan, Rwanda, Burundi, Ethiopia, Eswatini, Botswana and Liberia, while Lesotho, South Sudan, Mauritius, Chad, Sao Tome, Djibouti, Seychelles, Eritrea and Somalia are in Pot 6.

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