South Africa have been grouped with Nigeria, Benin, Zimbabwe, Rwanda and Lesotho ahead of the African qualifiers for the 2026 Football World Cup.
The winner of each group will qualify for the 2026 World Cup, which will be played in the United States of America, Canada and Mexico.
“The nine groups will play in a home and away, round-robin, format with each of the group winners qualifying automatically for the World Cup,” read a statement from FIFA.
“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 UEFA, plus one additional team from the host confederation.
“Two of the six teams will be seeded based on the world ranking. The seeded teams will play for a FIFA World Cup berth against the winners of the first two knockout games involving the four unseeded teams.”
The first round of African qualifying fixtures are scheduled for November 2023.
Nine groups in the African Qualifiers for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. pic.twitter.com/a3iWtvmWqY
— Africa Facts Zone (@AfricaFactsZone) July 13, 2023
African World Cup qualifier groups
Group A: Egypt, Burkina Faso, Guinea-Bissau, Sierra Leone, Ethiopia, Djibouti.
Group B: Senegal, Democratic Republic of Congo, Mauritania, Togo, Sudan, South Sudan.
Group C: Nigeria, South Africa, Benin, Zimbabwe, Rwanda, Lesotho.
Group D: Cameroon, Cape Verde, Angola, Libya, Eswatini, Mauritius.
Group E: Morocco, Zambia, Congo Brazzaville, Tanzania, Niger, Eritrea.
Group F: Ivory Coast, Gabon, Kenya, Gambia, Burundi, Seychelles.
Group G: Algeria, Guinea, Uganda, Mozambique, Botswana, Somalia.
Group H: Tunisia, Equatorial Guinea, Namibia, Malawi, Liberia, Sao Tome and Principe.
Group I: Mali, Ghana, Madagascar, Central African Republic, Comoros, Chad.
