2026 FIFA World Cup Qualifiers: Peseiro, Gusau In Abidjan For CAF Draws

2026 FIFA World Cup Qualifiers: Peseiro, Gusau In Abidjan For CAF Draws

By Admin

Super Eagles gaffer, Jose Peseiro and the President of Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Ibrahim Gusau are expected to grace Thursday’s draws for 2026 FIFA World Cup African qualifiers slated for Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire, 

Also expected to join the Abidjan party is NFF Secretary General, Dr. Mohammed Sanusi as Nigeria hopes to get a favourable draw after missing out on the last edition in Qatar, losing to Ghana in the playoffs.

The Confederation of African Football (CAF) confirmed on its website that the draw will be live on CAF digital platforms a few hours after the 45th CAF Ordinary Assembly in Abidjan.

African nations have been divided into nine groups for the draw, after which winners of each group automatically qualify for the FIFA World Cup 2026.

The four best runners-up (from the groups) will play in a CAF play-off tournament, which winner will play in playoff tournament.

Nigeria has been drawn in Pot 1 for the draw as one of the nine seeds in the qualifying series. Others in the same pot are Morocco, Senegal, Tunisia, Algeria, Egypt, Cameroun, Mali, and Cote d’Ivoire. This means that the Super Eagles will not meet any of the teams in Pot 1 in the group stages.

The qualification format will have nine groups of six teams, with the winners from each qualifying for the finals because Africa’s slots were increased to at least nine and a maximum of 10. The four best runners-up will be drawn in a mini-playoff to find one extra team that will advance to the Intercontinental playoffs.

In Pot 2 are Burkina Faso, Ghana, South Africa, Cape Verde, DR Congo, Guinea, Zambia, Gabo,n and Equatorial Guinea, while Pot 3 has Uganda, Benin, Kenya, Mauritania, Congo, Madagascar, Guinea Bissau, Namibia, and Angola.

Mozambique, Gambia, Sierra Leone, Togo, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Central African Republic, Malawi, I, and Libya are in Pot 4, Pot 5 has Niger, Comoros, Sudan, Rwanda, Burundi, Ethiopia, Eswatini, Botswana, and Liberia, while Lesotho, South Sudan, Mauritius, Chad, Sao Tome, Djibouti, Seychelles, Eritrea and Mali are in Pot 6.

The 2026 FIFA World Cup will be hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico.

-iwitness