The draw for the African qualifiers for the 2026 FIFA World Cup in football will reveal the fate of 54 teams, including Morocco, the surprising team in the recent Qatar World Cup, where they reached the semi-finals.
The draw, scheduled for 15:00 GMT hours before the African Union General Assembly in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, will allocate the 54 teams into nine groups of six teams each. The winner of each group will directly qualify for the expanded finals, which will include 48 teams instead of 32.
The four best second-placed teams in their respective groups will compete in a continental playoff, along with five teams from an international playoff, to secure an additional spot in the World Cup to be held in the United States, Canada, and Mexico.
If the African team secures this additional spot, the number of representatives from the continent will increase to ten, compared to five in the previous finals in Qatar.
Morocco became the first African team to reach the semi-finals by defeating teams like Spain and Portugal, after topping a tough group that included Croatia and Belgium, before losing to the runner-up France and finishing in fourth place.
Africa was represented in the Qatar finals by Morocco, Cameroon, Senegal, Ghana, and Tunisia. Senegal was the only team that accompanied Morocco to the round of 16 before losing to England with a score of 3-0.
Among the nine teams in Pot 1 are Egypt with Mohamed Salah, Algeria with Riyad Mahrez, as well as Nigeria, Mali, and Ivory Coast. Ghana, the only participant from the last World Cup, was placed in Pot 2.
The FIFA ranking issued in June was used to determine the six pots, with Ghana ranked 11th.
Mali was the biggest beneficiary of the ranking, jumping to the eighth spot after defeating Congo-Brazzaville 2-0 in the Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers.
The solution between the top nine teams will help them avoid elite teams, such as Morocco and Senegal, whose star Sadio Mane was absent in the last World Cup.
While the 54 teams enter the qualifiers, Zimbabwe escaped FIFA suspension since February 2022 due to political interference in football, as the ban was lifted on Monday.
Zimbabwe was excluded from the 2018 World Cup qualifiers due to their failure to pay former Brazilian coach José Claudinei Georgini.
The ban was imposed last year following a decision by the country's Sports and Recreation Commission to suspend the membership of the Zimbabwe Football Association's board of directors on various charges, including corruption, fraud, and sexual assault against referees.
The following are the six groups:
Group 1: Morocco, Senegal, Tunisia, Algeria, Egypt, Nigeria, Cameroon, Mali, Ivory Coast
Group 2: Burkina Faso, Ghana, South Africa, Cape Verde, DR Congo, Guinea, Zambia, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea
Group 3: Uganda, Benin, Mauritania, Kenya, Congo, Madagascar, Guinea-Bissau, Namibia, Angola
Group 4: Mozambique, Gambia, Sierra Leone, Togo, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Central African Republic, Malawi, Libya
Group 5: Niger, Comoros, Sudan, Rwanda, Burundi, Ethiopia, Eswatini, Botswana, Liberia
Group 6: Lesotho, South Sudan, Mauritius, Chad, Sao Tome and Principe, Djibouti, Seychelles, Eritrea, Somalia