2026 FIFA World Cup qualification – CAF Group A

The 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification – CAF Group A is a CAF qualifying group for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. The group contains Egypt, Burkina Faso, Guinea-Bissau, Sierra Leone, Ethiopia and Djibouti.

The group winner will directly qualify for the World Cup, and the runner-up could potentially compete in the second round to advance to the inter-confederation play-offs.^[1][2]

Standings

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Egypt (X)	8	6	2	0	16	2	+14	20	2026 FIFA World Cup		—	2–1	1–0	12 Oct	2–0	6–0
2	Burkina Faso	8	4	3	1	19	7	+12	15	Possible second round		0–0	—	2–2	1–1	12 Oct	4–1
3	Sierra Leone (Z)	8	3	3	2	10	8	+2	12			0–2	8 Oct	—	3–1	2–0	2–1
4	Guinea-Bissau (Z)	8	2	4	2	8	8	0	10			1–1	1–2	1–1	—	0–0	2–0
5	Ethiopia (E)	8	1	3	4	7	11	−4	6			0–2	0–3	0–0	8 Oct	—	6–1
6	Djibouti (E)	8	0	1	7	4	28	−24	1			8 Oct	0–6	12 Oct	0–1	1–1	—

Updated to match(es) played on 9 September 2025. Source: FIFA
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers
(E) Eliminated; (X) Assured of top two finish; can still qualify directly; (Z) Cannot qualify directly; can still advance to the second round

Matches

15 November 2023 (2023-11-15)

20:00 UTC+1

Ethiopia	0–0	Sierra Leone
	Report

Ben M'Hamed El Abdi Stadium, El Jadida (Morocco)

Attendance: 50

Referee: Celso Alvação (Mozambique)

16 November 2023 (2023-11-16)

18:00 UTC+2

Egypt	6–0	Djibouti
Salah 17', 22' (pen.), 48', 69' Mohamed 73' Trézéguet 89'	Report

Cairo International Stadium, Cairo

Attendance: 6,000

Referee: Jelly Chavani (South Africa)

17 November 2023 (2023-11-17)

20:00 UTC+1

Burkina Faso	1–1	Guinea-Bissau
B. Traoré 61'	Report	Mama Baldé 20'

Stade de Marrakech, Marrakesh (Morocco)

Attendance: 405

Referee: Alhadi Allaou Mahamat (Chad)

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19 November 2023 (2023-11-19)

16:00 UTC+0

Sierra Leone	0–2	Egypt
	Report	Trézéguet 18', 62'

Samuel Kanyon Doe Sports Complex, Paynesville (Liberia)

Attendance: 8,916

Referee: Jean-Jacques Ndala Ngambo (DR Congo)

20 November 2023 (2023-11-20)

15:00 UTC+2

Djibouti	0–1	Guinea-Bissau
	Report	Rodrigues 39'

Al Salam Stadium, Cairo (Egypt)

Attendance: 35

Referee: Mohamed Athoumani (Comoros)

21 November 2023 (2023-11-21)

20:00 UTC+1

Ethiopia	0–3	Burkina Faso
	Report	Touré 69' B. Traoré 78' (pen.) Da. Ouattara 90'

Ben M'Hamed El Abdi Stadium, El Jadida (Morocco)

Attendance: 385

Referee: Lamin Jammeh (Gambia)

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5 June 2024 (2024-06-05)

17:00 UTC+1

Sierra Leone	2–1	Djibouti
Davies 12' Kargbo 51'	Report	Dadzie 35' (pen.)

Ben M'Hamed El Abdi Stadium, El Jadida (Morocco)

Attendance: 250

Referee: Godfrey Nkhakananga (Malawi)

6 June 2024 (2024-06-06)

22:00 UTC+3

Egypt	2–1	Burkina Faso
Trézéguet 3', 8'	Report	L. Traoré 57'

Cairo International Stadium, Cairo

Attendance: 65,000

Referee: Peter Waweru (Kenya)

6 June 2024 (2024-06-06)

16:00 UTC+0

Guinea-Bissau	0–0	Ethiopia
	Report

Estádio 24 de Setembro, Bissau

Referee: Djindo Louis Houngnandande (Benin)

---

9 June 2024 (2024-06-09)

17:00 UTC+1

Djibouti	1–1	Ethiopia
Dadzie 29'	Report	Wondimu 31'

Ben M'Hamed El Abdi Stadium, El Jadida (Morocco)

Attendance: 100

Referee: Chelanget Sabila (Uganda)

10 June 2024 (2024-06-10)

16:00 UTC+0

Guinea-Bissau	1–1	Egypt
Mama Baldé 42'	Report	Salah 70'

Estádio 24 de Setembro, Bissau

Referee: Mahmood Ali Mahmood Ismail (Sudan)

10 June 2024 (2024-06-10)

19:00 UTC+0

Burkina Faso	2–2	Sierra Leone
Da. Ouattara 41' L. Traoré 45+2' (pen.)	Report	Kargbo 58' Bakayoko 88'

Stade du 26 Mars, Bamako (Mali)

Referee: Lahlou Benbraham (Algeria)

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20 March 2025 (2025-03-20)

16:00 UTC+0

Sierra Leone	3–1	Guinea-Bissau
Bundu 19' Mu. Kamara 61' I. Turay 90+6'	Report	Monteiro 68'

Samuel Kanyon Doe Sports Complex, Paynesville (Liberia)

Attendance: 6,443

Referee: Daniel Nii Laryea (Ghana)

21 March 2025 (2025-03-21)

17:00 UTC+1

Burkina Faso	4–1	Djibouti
Tiendrébéogo 12' B. Traoré 33' Zougrana 47' L. Traoré 67'	Report	Akinbinu 88' (pen.)

Ben M'Hamed El Abdi Stadium, El Jadida (Morocco)

Attendance: 244

Referee: Abdel Aziz Bouh (Mauritania)

21 March 2025 (2025-03-21)

22:00 UTC+1

Ethiopia	0–2	Egypt
	Report	Salah 31' Zizo 40'

Larbi Zaouli Stadium, Casablanca (Morocco)

Attendance: 300

Referee: Patrice Milazar (Mauritius)

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24 March 2025 (2025-03-24)

16:00 UTC+0

Guinea-Bissau	1–2	Burkina Faso
Banjaqui 36'	Report	L. Traoré 6', 73'

Estádio 24 de Setembro, Bissau

Attendance: 6,443

Referee: Samuel Uwikunda (Rwanda)

24 March 2025 (2025-03-24)

22:00 UTC+1

Ethiopia	6–1	Djibouti
Desta 19', 52', 70' (pen.) Nassir 34', 37', 58' (pen.)	Report	Akinbinu 51'

Ben M'Hamed El Abdi Stadium, El Jadida (Morocco)

Attendance: 100

Referee: Luxulo Badi (South Africa)

25 March 2025 (2025-03-25)

21:00 UTC+2

Egypt	1–0	Sierra Leone
Zizo 45+2'	Report

Cairo International Stadium, Cairo

Referee: Ahmad Heeralall (Mauritius)

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4 September 2025 (2025-09-04)

16:00 UTC+0

Guinea-Bissau	1–1	Sierra Leone
Mama Baldé 74'	Report	K. Kamara 45+1'

Estádio 24 de Setembro, Bissau

Referee: Clement Franklin Kpan (Ivory Coast)

5 September 2025 (2025-09-05)

16:00 UTC+0

Djibouti	0–6	Burkina Faso
	Report	Irié 16' Tiendrébéogo 25' Tapsoba 36', 43' Da. Ouattara 59', 86' (pen.)

Estádio 24 de Setembro, Bissau (Guinea-Bissau)

Referee: Younoussa Tawel Camara (Guinea)

5 September 2025 (2025-09-05)

21:00 UTC+2

Egypt	2–0	Ethiopia
Salah 41' (pen.) Marmoush 45+2' (pen.)	Report

Cairo International Stadium, Cairo

Attendance: 37,000

Referee: Abongile Tom (South Africa)

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8 September 2025 (2025-09-08)

16:00 UTC+0

Guinea-Bissau	2–0	Djibouti
Imbeni 54' Candé 82'	Report

Estádio 24 de Setembro, Bissau

Referee: Aklesso Gnama (Togo)

9 September 2025 (2025-09-09)

13:00 UTC+0

Sierra Leone	2–0	Ethiopia
M. Kamara 37' Koroma 90+6'	Report

Samuel Kanyon Doe Sports Complex, Paynesville (Liberia)

Referee: Yannick Malala (Democratic Republic of the Congo)

9 September 2025 (2025-09-09)

16:00 UTC+0

Burkina Faso	0–0	Egypt
	Report

Stade du 4 Août, Ouagadougou

Referee: Messie Nkounkou (Republic of Congo)

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8 October 2025 (2025-10-08)

15:00 UTC+2

Ethiopia	v	Guinea-Bissau
	Report

Amahoro Stadium, Kigali (Rwanda)

8 October 2025 (2025-10-08)

17:00 UTC+1

Djibouti	v	Egypt
	Report

Larbi Zaouli Stadium, Casablanca (Morocco)

8 October 2025 (2025-10-08)

16:00 UTC+0

Sierra Leone	v	Burkina Faso
	Report

Samuel Kanyon Doe Sports Complex, Paynesville (Liberia)

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12 October 2025 (2025-10-12)

19:00 UTC+0

Burkina Faso	v	Ethiopia
	Report

Stade du 4 Août, Ouagadougou

12 October 2025 (2025-10-12)

20:00 UTC+1

Djibouti	v	Sierra Leone
	Report

Larbi Zaouli Stadium, Casablanca (Morocco)

12 October 2025 (2025-10-12)

21:00 UTC+2

Egypt	v	Guinea-Bissau
	Report

Cairo International Stadium, Cairo

Goalscorers

There have been 64 goals scored in 24 matches, for an average of 2.67 goals per match (as of 9 September 2025).

7 goals

• Mohamed Salah

5 goals

• Lassina Traoré
• Trézéguet

4 goals

• Dango Ouattara

3 goals

• Bertrand Traoré
• Bereket Desta
• Abubeker Nassir
• Mama Baldé

2 goals

• Edmond Tapsoba
• Josué Tiendrébéogo
• Samuel Akinbinu
• Gabriel Dadzie
• Zizo
• Augustus Kargbo

1 goal

• Cyriaque Irié
• Blati Touré
• Mohamed Zougrana
• Omar Marmoush
• Mostafa Mohamed
• Minyelu Wondimu
• Zidane Banjaqui
• Fali Candé
• Iano Imbeni
• Tamble Monteiro
• Mauro Rodrigues
• Amadou Bakayoko
• Mustapha Bundu
• Curtis Davies
• Kei Kamara
• Momoh Kamara
• Musa Noah Kamara
• Alhassan Koroma
• Ibrahim Turay

Discipline

A player is automatically suspended for the next match for the following infractions:^[3]

• Receiving a red card (red card suspensions may be extended for serious infractions)
• Receiving two yellow cards in two different matches (yellow card suspensions are carried forward to further qualification rounds, but not the finals or any other future international matches)

The following suspensions have been or will be served during the group stage:

Team	Player	Infraction(s)	Suspended for match(es)
Burkina Faso	Issoufou Dayo	vs Guinea-Bissau (17 November 2023) vs Djibouti (21 March 2025)	vs Guinea-Bissau (24 March 2025)
	Ismahila Ouédraogo	vs Guinea-Bissau (17 November 2023) vs Ethiopia (21 November 2023)	vs Egypt (6 June 2024)
	Steeve Yago	vs Sierra Leone (10 June 2024) vs Guinea-Bissau (24 March 2025)	vs Djibouti (5 September 2025)
Djibouti	Ahmed Aden	vs Guinea-Bissau (20 November 2023) vs Ethiopia (9 June 2024)	vs Burkina Faso (21 March 2025)
Egypt	Marwan Attia	vs Djibouti (16 November 2023) vs Sierra Leone (25 March 2025)	vs Ethiopia (5 September 2025)
Guinea-Bissau	Marcelo Djaló	vs Djibouti (20 November 2023) vs Egypt (10 June 2024)	vs Sierra Leone (20 March 2025)
	Houboulang Mendes	vs Djibouti (20 November 2023)	vs Ethiopia (6 June 2024)
	Alfa Semedo	vs Burkina Faso (17 November 2023) vs Burkina Faso (24 March 2025)	vs Sierra Leone (4 September 2025)
Sierra Leone	Tyrese Fornah	vs Egypt (19 November 2023)	vs Djibouti (5 June 2024) vs Burkina Faso (10 June 2024)
	Abdul Jarju Kabia	vs Egypt (19 November 2023)	vs Djibouti (5 June 2024)