Africa-Press – Mauritius. We know two of the nine African teams qualified for the 2026 World Cup. Morocco and Tunisia are the first African nations to have secured their tickets to the next World Cup in North America. For the rest of the teams, we explain how the qualifiers work.
Morocco and Tunisia are the first African nations to have secured their tickets to the 2026 World Cup in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Seven tickets remain to be validated. We explain how the qualifiers work.
Nine groups, nine winners
In May 2023, the Confederation of African Football (CAF) unveiled a new format for the 2026 qualifiers, aiming to award nine direct spots to Africa, compared to five in previous editions.
The 54 African teams are divided into nine groups of six teams. Each team plays each other twice (home and away) in a traditional group stage. The winner of each group qualifies directly for the World Cup.
And the runners-up? A second chance… very limited.
The four best runners-up (out of nine) advance to a continental play-off phase, with semifinals and a final. The winner then participates in an intercontinental playoff for a final spot. This continental phase takes place between November 10 and 18, 2025, while the intercontinental playoff will take place in March 2026.
For the moment, Morocco and Tunisia have officially qualified as the winners of their groups. Egypt is on a good path, dominating its Group A. Senegal, South Africa, Algeria, Ivory Coast, Ghana, and Cape Verde are also at the top of their groups and are on track to qualify.
To decide between two teams, overall goal difference is the first criterion to be taken into account, followed by the highest number of goals scored, the highest number of points collected in matches between the teams concerned, the best goal difference in matches between the teams concerned, the highest number of goals scored in matches between the teams concerned, the highest number of away goals scored in home and away matches between the teams concerned, and then the lowest number of disciplinary points in all matches in the group.
Equatorial Guinea forfeited its first two matches after a player, Emilio Nsue, was deemed ineligible by FIFA. The wins were converted into 3-0 defeats. As for Eritrea, it is absent from the qualifiers, having not played since 2020 due to internal political reasons.
This new qualification system is clear and innovative, offering an increased chance of direct qualification, while maintaining a high stakes for the second-place finishers in each group.
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