from ALEXIS DOUMBIA in Abidjan, Ivory Coast
Ivory Coast Bureau
ABIDJAN, (CAJ News) – WITH only the side finishing top of the six-team groups, qualifying for the Federation of International Football Associations (FIFA) World Cup has never been this harder, from an African perspective.
The Confederation of African Football (CAF) draw for the next edition scheduled for Canada, Mexico and the United States (US) in 2026 has been conducted in Abidjan, Ivory Coast.
Group C is arguably the proverbial Group of Death.
It features perennial qualifiers Nigeria and 2010 World Cup hosts, South Africa, along with Benin, Zimbabwe, Rwanda and Lesotho.
By order of rankings, Group A comprises Egypt, Burkina Faso, Guinea-Bissau, Sierra Leone, Ethiopia and Djibouti.
Senegal, who bowed out at the Round of 16 at the most recent edition in Qatar, are in Group B and will tackle Congo DR, Mauritania, Togo, Sudan and South Sudan.
Group D features another regular actor at the World Cup, Cameroon, alongside Cape Verde, Angola, Libya, Eswatini and Mauritius.
Qatar2022 semi-finalists Morocco will face old foes Zambia, Congo, Tanzania, Niger and Eritrea after being drawn in Group E.
Ivory Coast, Gabon, Kenya, The Gambia, Burundi and Seychelles are in Group F.
Group G consists of Algeria, Guinea, Uganda, Mozambique, Botswana and Somalia while Group H has Tunisia, Equatorial Guinea, Namibia, Malawi, Liberia as well as São Tomé and Príncipe.
Mali, Ghana, Madagascar, Central African Republic (CAR), Comoros and Chad are in Group I.
The nine groups will play in a home and away, round-robin format.
The four best group runners-up will then compete in a play-off stage to determine CAF’s representative at the FIFA play-off tournament.
The FIFA play-off tournament will feature one team from each of FIFA’s six confederations, except Europe, plus one additional team from the host confederation.
– CAJ News