The 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification (CAF) is the African section of the qualification tournament for the

2026 FIFA World Cup The 2026 FIFA World Cup, marketed as FIFA World Cup 26, will be the 23rd FIFA World Cup, the Anniversary#Latin-derived numerical names, quadrennial international men's Association football, soccer championship contested by the List of men's n ...

, to be held in the United States, Canada and Mexico. A total of nine slots in the final tournament and one inter-confederation play-off slot are reserved for

CAF CAF or caf may refer to: Armed forces *Canadian Armed Forces (Canadian Forces), the Canadian Air Force, Army, and Navy *Canadian Air Force, now the Royal Canadian Air Force *Republic of China Air Force, the air force of the Republic of China (Tai ...

teams.

Format

Due to nine CAF teams now directly qualifying instead of five, the CAF Executive Committee announced a new qualification format on 19 May 2023. Teams were drawn into nine groups of six teams. The winner of each group will directly qualify to the World Cup, while the four best group runners-up will participate in play-offs to determine which team will advance to the inter-confederation play-offs. * Group stage: Nine groups of six teams will play in a home-and-away round-robin matches. Group winners will qualify for the

. * Play-off stage: The four best group runners-up will be drawn into play-offs to determine the CAF representative at the inter-confederation play-offs.

Schedule

First round

Teams were drawn into nine groups of six teams and will play home-and-away round robin matches from November 2023 to October 2025. The winners of each group will qualify directly to the

, and the four best group runners-up will advance to a play-off to determine which team will advance to the inter-confederation play-offs.

Draw

The draw was held on 13 July 2023 at 15:00 GMT (

UTC±0 UTC+00:00 is an identifier for a time offset from UTC of +00:00. This time zone is the basis of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) and all other time zones are based on it. In ISO 8601, an example of the associated time would be written as 2069-0 ...

) in

Abidjan Abidjan ( , ; N'Ko script, N'ko: ߊߓߌߖߊ߲߬) is the largest city and the former capital of Ivory Coast. As of the Demographics of Ivory Coast, 2021 census, Abidjan's population was 6.3 million, which is 21.5 percent of the overall population ...

, Ivory Coast. All 54 FIFA-affiliated football associations from CAF entered qualification, however Eritrea withdrew before matches began. The draw pots were announced on 30 June (numbers in parentheses indicate

FIFA Men's World Ranking The FIFA Men's World Ranking is a ranking system for men's national teams in association football, first introduced in December 1992. The men's teams of the member nations of FIFA, football's world governing body, are ranked based on their gam ...

at the time of the draw):

Groups

Group A

Group B

Group C

Group D

Group E

Group F

Group G

Group H

Group I

Ranking of runners-up

Neither CAF nor FIFA have made an official announcement on how

Eritrea Eritrea, officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa, with its capital and largest city being Asmara. It is bordered by Ethiopia in the Eritrea–Ethiopia border, south, Sudan in the west, and Dj ...

's withdrawal will affect the rankings of the group runners-up since not all groups have the same number of teams.

Second round

The four best group runners-up will be drawn into play-offs to determine the sole CAF representative at the inter-confederation play-offs. A total of three matches will be played.

Bracket

Semi-finals

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Final

Inter-confederation play-offs

The play-off winner will join one team each from AFC,

CONMEBOL CONMEBOL ( ) or CSF (; ; ), is the continental governing body of football in South America and it is one of FIFA's six continental confederations. The oldest continental confederation in the world, its headquarters are located in Luque, Parag ...

and OFC and two from

CONCACAF The Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football, abbreviated as CONCACAF ( ; typeset for branding purposes since 2018 as Concacaf), is one of FIFA's six continental governing bodies for association football. Its 4 ...

in the inter-confederation play-offs. The teams will be ranked according to the

, with the four lowest-ranked teams playing in two matches. The winners will meet the two highest-ranked teams in another set of matches, with the winners of these matches qualifying for the

Qualified teams

The following teams from CAF qualified for the final tournament. Notes

Top goalscorers

Below are full goalscorer lists for each group:

References

{{2026 FIFA World Cup qualification

Caf CAF or caf may refer to: Armed forces *Canadian Armed Forces (Canadian Forces), the Canadian Air Force, Army, and Navy *Canadian Air Force, now the Royal Canadian Air Force *Republic of China Air Force, the air force of the Republic of China (Tai ...

FIFA World Cup qualification (CAF) 2023 in African football 2024 in African football 2025 in African football