Di tough draws and how African teams go take qualify for di 2026 Fifa World Cup

Three-time African championsSuper Eagles of Nigeria go face tough battle to reach di next FIFA World Cup after Thursday draws wey put dem for same group with South Africa, Benin Republic, Zimbabwe, Rwanda and Lesotho.

Eagles don previously qualify for four World Cups and go dey eye dia fifth one wey USA Mexico and Canada go host for 2026.

Sani Usman na sports analyst and e tell BBC News Pidgin say e dey expect di battle for group C to be between Nigeria and South Africa.

“If you look at that particular group you go see say di two biggest teams inside na Nigeria and South Africa so di fight for dat group go be between those two.”

“E still dey pain Nigerians say dem no qualify for di last World Cup wey happun for Qatar and dem go wan use dis opportunity to right di wrongs.”

“While South Africa last time wey dem play for World Cup na 2010 when dem host am so dem get a lot to prove as well.”

Na di Confederation of African Football (CAF) organise di draws on Thursday for Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire.

Oda tough matches wey fans go dey look forward to after di draws na Black stars of Ghana against Mali.

<>Di bnine groups wey go battle to reach World Cup

GROUP A: Egypt, Burkina Faso, Guinea Bissau, Sierra Leone, Ethiopia, Djibouti

GROUP B: Senegal, DR Congo, Mauritania, Togo, Sudan, South Sudan

GROUP C: Nigeria, South Africa, Benin Republic, Zimbabwe, Rwanda, Lesotho

GROUP D: Cameroon, Cape Verde, Angola, Libya, eSwatini, Mauritius

GROUP E: Morocco, Zambia, Congo, Tanzania, Niger Republic, Eritrea

GROUP F: Cote d’Ivoire, Gabon, Kenya, The Gambia, Burundi, Seychelles

GROUP G: Algeria, Guinea, Uganda, Mozambique, Botswana, Somalia

GROUP H: Tunisia, Equatorial Guinea, Namibia, Malawi, Liberia, Sao Tome & Principe

GROUP I: Mali, Ghana, Madagascar, Central African Republic, Comoros, Chad.

Di steps to reach di 2026 FIFA World Cup

Na nine groups CAF arrange wey go play each other home and away with each of di group winners qualifying automatically for the FIFA World Cup.

Then di four best group runners-up go then compete for play-off stage to determine di team wey go serve as CAF representative for di FIFA play-off tournament.

Di FIFA play-off tournament go feature one team from each of di FIFA six confederations, except UEFA wey dey represent Europe, plus one additional team from the host confederation (Concacaf).

Na two of the six teams go dey seeded base on dia FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking.

The seeded teams go play for FIFA World Cup tourney against the winners of the first two knockout games wet involve di four unseeded teams.

Di qualifiers, including di playoffs, go start from November 3, 2023 till November 18, 2025.

Fans go remember say Africa bin get nine automatic places when FIFA decide to expand di World Cup to 48 teams for di 2026 event.

Na five teams bin dey represent Africa before now.

Di World Cup go happun for di United States, Mexico and Canada from 11 June 2026 to 19 July 2026.