2026 FIFA World Cup qualification (CAF)

The 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification (CAF) is the African section of the qualification tournament for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, 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 teams.^[1]

2026 FIFA World Cup qualification (CAF)

Tournament details
Dates	15 November 2023 – 18 November 2025
Teams	53 (from 1 confederation)
Tournament statistics
Matches played	154
Goals scored	375 (2.44 per match)
Attendance	1,183,698 (7,686 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Mohamed Salah (6 goals)
← 2022 2030 → All statistics correct as of 25 March 2025.

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.^[2][3]

• First round (group stage): Nine groups of six teams will play in a home-and-away round-robin matches. Group winners will qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
• Second round (play-off): The four best group runners-up will be drawn into play-offs to determine the CAF representative at the inter-confederation play-offs.

Schedule

2026 FIFA World Cup qualification

Round	Matchday	Dates
First round	Matchday 1	15–18 November 2023
	Matchday 2	19–21 November 2023
	Matchday 3	5–8 June 2024
	Matchday 4	9–11 June 2024
	Matchday 5	19–22 March 2025
	Matchday 6	23–25 March 2025
	Matchday 7	3–6 September 2025
	Matchday 8	7–9 September 2025
	Matchday 9	6–14 October 2025
	Matchday 10
Second round	Semi-finals	10–18 November 2025
	Final

First round

Teams were drawn into nine groups of six teams to play home-and-away round robin matches from November 2023 to October 2025. The winners of each group will qualify directly to the 2026 FIFA World Cup, 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) in Abidjan, Ivory Coast.^[4][5] All 54 FIFA-affiliated football associations from CAF entered qualification, however Eritrea withdrew before matches began.^[6][7]

The draw pots were announced on 30 June (numbers in parentheses indicate FIFA Men's World Ranking at the time of the draw):^[8][9]

CAF qualification first round draw pots

Pot 1	Pot 2	Pot 3
Morocco (13)  Senegal (18)  Tunisia (31)  Algeria (33)  Egypt (34)  Nigeria (39)  Cameroon (43)  Mali (50)  Ivory Coast (51)	Burkina Faso (55)  Ghana (59)  South Africa (62)  Cape Verde (66)  DR Congo (69)  Guinea (80)  Zambia (84)  Gabon (85)  Equatorial Guinea (91)	Uganda (92)  Benin (93)  Mauritania (99)  Kenya (105)  Congo (106)  Madagascar (107)  Guinea-Bissau (111)  Namibia (112)  Angola (114)
Pot 4	Pot 5	Pot 6
Mozambique (117)  Gambia (119)  Sierra Leone (120)  Togo (122)  Tanzania (123)  Zimbabwe (124)  Central African Republic (125)  Malawi (126)  Libya (127)	Niger (128)  Comoros (130)  Sudan (131)  Rwanda (139)  Burundi (140)  Ethiopia (143)  Eswatini (146)  Botswana (147)  Liberia (148)	Lesotho (152)  South Sudan (168)  Mauritius (180)  Chad (181)  São Tomé and Príncipe (187)  Djibouti (193)  Seychelles (196)  Eritrea (198)  Somalia (199)

Groups

Group A

Main article: 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification – CAF Group A

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Egypt	6	5	1	0	14	2	+12	16	2026 FIFA World Cup		—	2–1	1–0	5 Sep	Oct	6–0
2	Burkina Faso	6	3	2	1	13	7	+6	11	Possible second round		9 Sep	—	2–2	Oct	1–1	4–1
3	Sierra Leone	6	2	2	2	7	7	0	8			0–2	Oct	—	9 Sep	3–1	2–1
4	Ethiopia	6	1	3	2	7	7	0	6			0–2	0–3	0–0	—	Oct	6–1
5	Guinea-Bissau	6	1	3	2	5	7	−2	6			1–1	1–2	4 Sep	0–0	—	8 Sep
6	Djibouti (Z)	6	0	1	5	4	20	−16	1			Oct	5 Sep	Oct	1–1	0–1	—

Updated to match(es) played on 25 March 2025. Source: FIFA
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers
(Z) Cannot qualify directly; can still advance to the second round

Group B

Main article: 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification – CAF Group B

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	DR Congo	6	4	1	1	7	2	+5	13	2026 FIFA World Cup		—	9 Sep	Oct	1–0	1–0	2–0
2	Senegal	6	3	3	0	8	1	+7	12	Possible second round		1–1	—	5 Sep	2–0	4–0	Oct
3	Sudan	6	3	3	0	8	2	+6	12			1–0	0–0	—	1–1	1–1	Oct
4	Togo	6	0	4	2	4	7	−3	4			Oct	0–0	9 Sep	—	1–1	2–2
5	South Sudan	6	0	3	3	2	10	−8	3			5 Sep	Oct	0–3	Oct	—	0–0
6	Mauritania (Z)	6	0	2	4	2	9	−7	2			0–2	0–1	0–2	5 Sep	9 Sep	—

Updated to match(es) played on 25 March 2025. Source: FIFA
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers
(Z) Cannot qualify directly; can still advance to the second round

Group C

Main article: 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification – CAF Group C

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	South Africa	6	4	1	1	10	5	+5	13	2026 FIFA World Cup		—	Oct	2–1	9 Sep	2–0	3–1
2	Rwanda	6	2	2	2	4	4	0	8	Possible second round		2–0	—	Oct	0–2	1–1	0–0
3	Benin	6	2	2	2	6	7	−1	8			0–2	1–0	—	2–1	9 Sep	5 Sep
4	Nigeria	6	1	4	1	7	6	+1	7			1–1	6 Sep	Oct	—	1–1	1–1
5	Lesotho	6	1	3	2	4	5	−1	6			5 Sep	0–1	0–0	Oct	—	Oct
6	Zimbabwe	6	0	4	2	5	9	−4	4			Oct	9 Sep	2–2	1–1	0–2	—

Updated to match(es) played on 25 March 2025. Source: FIFA
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers

Group D

Main article: 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification – CAF Group D

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Cape Verde	6	4	1	1	7	5	+2	13	2026 FIFA World Cup		—	9 Sep	1–0	0–0	1–0	Oct
2	Cameroon	6	3	3	0	12	4	+8	12	Possible second round		4–1	—	3–1	Oct	3–0	4 Sep
3	Libya	6	2	2	2	6	7	−1	8			Oct	1–1	—	1–1	2–1	8 Sep
4	Angola	6	1	4	1	4	4	0	7			1–2	1–1	4 Sep	—	9 Sep	1–0
5	Mauritius	6	1	2	3	6	10	−4	5			4 Sep	Oct	Oct	0–0	—	2–1
6	Eswatini	6	0	2	4	4	9	−5	2			0–2	0–0	0–1	Oct	3–3	—

Updated to match(es) played on 25 March 2025. Source: FIFA
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers

Group E

Main article: 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification – CAF Group E

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Morocco	5	5	0	0	14	2	+12	15	2026 FIFA World Cup		—	2–0	2–1	5 Sep	Oct	Canc.
2	Tanzania	5	3	0	2	5	4	+1	9	Possible second round		0–2	—	Oct	8 Sep	3–0[a]	Canc.
3	Zambia	5	2	0	3	9	7	+2	6			8 Sep	0–1	—	Oct	4–2	Canc.
4	Niger	4	2	0	2	6	4	+2	6			1–2	0–1	2–1	—	Oct	Canc.
5	Congo[a] (E)	5	0	0	5	2	19	−17	0			0–6	5 Sep	0–3[a]	0–3[b]	—	Canc.
6	Eritrea[c]	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	Withdrew		Canc.	Canc.	Canc.	Canc.	Canc.	—

Updated to match(es) played on 25 March 2025. Source: FIFA
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers
(E) Eliminated
Notes:

1. Congo were suspended on 6 February 2025 due to government interference in Congolese Football Federation operations.^[10][11] No announcement regarding their status was immediately available, and CAF initially cancelled their remaining matches.^[12] However, Tanzania and Zambia were later awarded 3–0 victories by forfeit.^[13] The suspension was lifted by FIFA on 14 May 2025.^[14]
2. Niger were awarded a 3–0 victory by forfeit after Congo refused to travel to DR Congo for their match after their regular stadium was deemed to not meet hosting requirements.^[15]
3. Eritrea withdrew from qualification prior to playing any matches due to concerns that players would seek political asylum if allowed to travel overseas.^[6][16][17]

Group F

Main article: 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification – CAF Group F

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Ivory Coast	6	5	1	0	14	0	+14	16	2026 FIFA World Cup		—	1–0	5 Sep	Oct	1–0	9–0
2	Gabon	6	5	0	1	12	6	+6	15	Possible second round		9 Sep	—	Oct	2–1	3–2	3–0
3	Burundi	6	3	1	2	13	7	+6	10			0–1	1–2	—	Oct	3–2	5–0
4	Kenya	6	1	3	2	11	8	+3	6			0–0	1–2	1–1	—	5 Sep	9 Sep
5	Gambia (Z)	6	1	1	4	12	13	−1	4			0–2	Oct	9 Sep	3–3	—	5–1
6	Seychelles (E)	6	0	0	6	2	30	−28	0			Oct	3 Sep	1–3	0–5	Oct	—

Updated to match(es) played on 25 March 2025. Source: FIFA
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers
(E) Eliminated; (Z) Cannot qualify directly; can still advance to the second round

Group G

Main article: 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification – CAF Group G

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Algeria	6	5	0	1	16	6	+10	15	2026 FIFA World Cup		—	5–1	4 Sep	Oct	1–2	3–1
2	Mozambique	6	4	0	2	10	11	−1	12	Possible second round		0–2	—	8 Sep	3–1	Oct	2–1
3	Botswana	6	3	0	3	9	8	+1	9			1–3	2–3	—	Oct	1–0	2–0
4	Uganda	6	3	0	3	6	7	−1	9			1–2	5 Sep	1–0	—	1–0	8 Sep
5	Guinea	6	2	1	3	4	5	−1	7			8 Sep	0–1	Oct	2–1	—	0–0
6	Somalia (Z)	6	0	1	5	3	11	−8	1			Oct	Oct	1–3	0–1	5 Sep	—

Updated to match(es) played on 25 March 2025. Source: FIFA
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers
(Z) Cannot qualify directly; can still advance to the second round

Group H

Main article: 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification – CAF Group H

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Tunisia	6	5	1	0	9	0	+9	16	2026 FIFA World Cup		—	Oct	4 Sep	1–0	2–0	4–0
2	Namibia	6	3	3	0	8	2	+6	12	Possible second round		0–0	—	1–1	1–1	5 Sep	9 Sep
3	Liberia	6	3	1	2	7	4	+3	10			0–1	Oct	—	3–0[a]	0–1	2–1
4	Equatorial Guinea	6	2	1	3	4	8	−4	7			8 Sep	0–3[a]	Oct	—	1–0	2–0
5	Malawi	6	2	0	4	4	6	−2	6			0–1	0–1	8 Sep	Oct	—	3–1
6	São Tomé and Príncipe (E)	6	0	0	6	2	14	−12	0			Oct	0–2	0–1	4 Sep	Oct	—

Updated to match(es) played on 24 March 2025. Source: FIFA
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers
(E) Eliminated
Notes:

1. Equatorial Guinea forfeited two matches for fielding an ineligible player, Emilio Nsue.^[18] The original results were Equatorial Guinea 1–0 Namibia and Liberia 0–1 Equatorial Guinea.

Group I

Main article: 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification – CAF Group I

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Ghana	6	5	0	1	15	5	+10	15	2026 FIFA World Cup		—	Oct	1–0	8 Sep	4–3	5–0
2	Comoros	6	4	0	2	9	7	+2	12	Possible second round		1–0	—	Oct	0–3	4–2	1–0
3	Madagascar	6	3	1	2	9	6	+3	10			0–3	2–1	—	0–0	4 Sep	8 Sep
4	Mali	6	2	3	1	8	4	+4	9			1–2	4 Sep	Oct	—	1–1	3–1
5	Central African Republic	6	1	2	3	8	13	−5	5			Oct	7 Sep	1–4	0–0	—	1–0
6	Chad (E)	6	0	0	6	1	15	−14	0			4 Sep	0–2	0–3	Oct	Oct	—

Updated to match(es) played on 25 March 2025. Source: FIFA
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers
(E) Eliminated

Ranking of runners-up

Neither CAF nor FIFA have made an official announcement on how Eritrea's withdrawal will affect the rankings of the group runners-up since not all groups have the same number of teams.

Pos	Grp	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	F	Gabon	6	5	0	1	12	6	+6	15	Second round
2	D	Cameroon	6	3	3	0	12	4	+8	12
3	B	Senegal	6	3	3	0	8	1	+7	12
4	H	Namibia	6	3	3	0	8	2	+6	12
5	I	Comoros	6	4	0	2	9	7	+2	12
6	G	Mozambique	6	4	0	2	10	11	−1	12
7	A	Burkina Faso	6	3	2	1	13	7	+6	11
8	E	Tanzania	5	3	0	2	5	4	+1	9
9	C	Rwanda	6	2	2	2	4	4	0	8

Updated to match(es) played on 25 March 2025. Source: FIFA
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers

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				Final
	November 2025 (2025-11)
					November 2025 (2025-11)
	November 2025 (2025-11)

Semi-finals

November 2025 (2025-11)

	v

---

November 2025 (2025-11)

	v

Final

November 2025 (2025-11)

	v

Inter-confederation play-offs

Main article: 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification (inter-confederation play-offs)

The play-off winner will join one team each from AFC, CONMEBOL and OFC and two from CONCACAF in the inter-confederation play-offs. The teams will be ranked according to the FIFA Men's World Ranking, with the four lowest-ranked teams playing in two single-elimination matches. The winners will meet the two highest-ranked teams in another set of single-elimination matches, with the winners of these matches qualifying for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.^[19]

Qualified teams

  Can qualify for the World Cup

  Failed to qualify

  Withdrew

  Not a CAF member

The following teams from CAF qualified for the final tournament.

Team	Qualified as	Qualified on	Previous appearances in FIFA World Cup[a]
TBD	Group A winners	2025
TBD	Group B winners	2025
TBD	Group C winners	2025
TBD	Group D winners	2025
TBD	Group E winners	2025
TBD	Group F winners	2025
TBD	Group G winners	2025
TBD	Group H winners	2025
TBD	Group I winners	2025

Notes

1. Italic indicates hosts for that year.

Top goalscorers

There have been 375 goals scored in 154 matches, for an average of 2.44 goals per match (as of 25 March 2025).

6 goals

• Mohamed Salah

5 goals

• Mohamed Amoura
• Lassina Traoré
• Trézéguet
• Denis Bouanga
• Jordan Ayew
• Kamory Doumbia

4 goals

• Vincent Aboubakar
• Musa Barrow
• Michael Olunga
• Rayan Raveloson

3 goals

• Steve Mounié
• Bertrand Traoré
• Sudi Abdallah
• Bienvenue Kanakimana
• Bryan Mbeumo
• Louis Mafouta
• Myziane Maolida
• Emilio Nsue
• Bereket Desta
• Abubeker Nassir
• Jim Allevinah
• Pierre Aubameyang
• Yankuba Minteh
• Seko Fofana
• Ayoub El Kaabi
• Stanley Ratifo
• Victor Osimhen
• Patson Daka

Below are full goalscorer lists for each group:

• Group A
• Group B
• Group C
• Group D
• Group E
• Group F
• Group G
• Group H
• Group I