July 12, (THEWILL) – The Super Eagles will learn their opponents for the 2026 FIFA World Cup African qualifiers on Thursday, during the draw in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire.
The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has stated that the draw will be available to watch live on CAF digital platforms and CAFONLINE.com, after the conclusion of the 45th CAF Ordinary Assembly. For the draw, CAF’s member associations have been split into nine groups, with the winners of each group automatically securing a place in the FIFA World Cup 2026.
The four best runners-up will compete in a CAF play-off tournament, with the winner progressing to a FIFA-organised playoff tournament. Nigeria has been allocated to Pot 1 for the draw as one of the nine seeds in the qualifying series, joining Morocco, Senegal, Tunisia, Algeria, Egypt, Cameroun, Mali and Cote d’Ivoire. This means that the Super Eagles will not be drawn against any of these teams in the group stages.
The qualification format features nine groups of six teams, with the winners from each qualifying for the finals due to Africa’s increased allocation of slots. The 2026 FIFA World Cup will be hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico.
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Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
