Nigeria’s Super Eagles have been drawn in Group C for 2026 world cup qualifiers.
They are billed to face the likes of South Africa, Benin, Zimbabwe, Rwanda and Lesotho. Nigeria (with six previous attendances the last coming in the Russia 2018 edition) and South Africa are no newcomers to the world cup. South Africa looking to qualify for the world cup for the third time after appearances in the 1998, 2002 and 2010 editions. While Benin, Zimbabwe, Rwanda and Lesotho are yet to make an appearance on the world stage.
The 2026 world cup which is to be co- hosted by the United States, Mexico and Canada will have a total of 48 teams from 6 confederations jostling for the coveted price.
Africa as a continent can produce between 9- 10 teams for the finals. To achieve this CAF has shared the continent into nine groups. The nine groups will play in a home and away, round-robin, format with each of the group winners qualifying automatically for the FIFA World Cup 2026™ .
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 (Concacaf).
Two of the six teams will be seeded based on the FIFA/Coca-Cola 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.
See Full Draws Below:
A – Egypt, Burkina Faso, Guinea Bissau, Sierra leone, Ethiopia, Djibouti
B – Senegal, Congo DR, Mauritania, Togo, Sudan, South Sudan,
C – Nigeria, South Africa, Benin, Zimbabwe, Rwanda, Lesotho
D – Cameroon, Cabo Verde, Angola, Libya, Eswatini, Mauritius
E – Morocco, Zambia, Congo, Tanzania, Niger, Eritrea,
F – Cote d’Iviore, Gabon, Kenya, Gambia, Burundi, Seychelles
G – Algeria, Guinea, Uganda, Mozambique, Botswana, Somalia
H – Tunisia, E/Guinea, Namibia, Malawi, Liberia, Sao tome
I – Mali, Ghana, Madagascar, CAR, Comoros, Chad
