CAF release Nigeria’s FIFA 2026 World Cup qualification schedule

By Oyediji Oluwaseun Babatunde

The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has released the dates for the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers for Africa zone, with three-time African champions Nigeria in contention for a place on the global showpiece.

Nine teams from Africa are guaranteed qualification at the expanded 2026 FIFA World Cup and the West Africans will start their campaign with Matchday one and two games from November 13 to 21, 2023.

The Super Eagles have been drawn with 1996 winners, South Africa, Benin Republic, Zimbabwe, Rwanda, and Lesotho in Group C, with each team to play a total number of ten games – five home and five away games.

The group stage of Africa Qualifiers will be concluded in te weekend of November 10 to 18, 2025, with the top nine teams from Group A to I making it to the World Cup after the conclusion of the first round.

The second round will pit the four best runners-up in two one-off semi-finals, followed by a final, while the winner of this second round will participate in the FIFA Play-off Tournament.

The FIFA Play-Off Tournament will see six sides fight it out for the final two places at the 23rd FIFA World Cup.

It will involve two teams from Concacaf and one team apiece from the AFC (Asia), CAF (Africa), CONMEBOL (South America) and OFC (Oceania). The four lowest-ranked nations will meet in bracket semi-finals.

The two highest-ranked teams will go directly into the finals. The winners of the two bracket finals will reach the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

Nigeria, Tunisia, and Morocco with six appearances at the FIFA World Cup are the second African teams with the most appearances at the World Cup behind Cameroon with eight appearances.