World Cup 2026: the draw of the African zone, highlight of the CAF GA

This Thursday, July 13 in Abidjan, the Confederation of African Football will hold, as every year, its General Assembly. This will be an opportunity to renew the executive board, but eyes will be more on the draw for the 2026 World Cup that will take place just after.

The 45th CAF General Assembly will be held in Abidjan on 13 July 2023. © RFI/Ndiassé SAMBE

Text by: Ndiasse Sambe Follow

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From our Special Envoy in Abidjan,

This draw was to take place this Wednesday, June 12, the day before the General Assembly, before being canceled, then rescheduled on the same day as the General Assembly of Thursday, July 13. A few hours after the renewal of the executive board, we will know the constitution of the nine pools that will punctuate the African qualifiers of the 2026 World Cup. The nine seeds will be determined by the latest FIFA ranking published on June 29.

Ivory Coast seeded narrowly?

It will logically be the first nine in Africa: Morocco, Senegal, Tunisia, Algeria, Egypt, Nigeria, Cameroon, Mali, Côte d'Ivoire. The latter can consider herself happy to be among the seeds, even if former international Abdoulaye Traoré Ben Badi thinks that this does not guarantee anything for the future. "All teams are equal. African football is clearly progressing. We must be wary of so-called small teams, "said the former Elephant after the match of the African Legends organized Wednesday by CAF.

At the end of this draw, nine groups of six teams will be formed. The first of each pool will be directly qualified for the World Cup and the four best runners-up will compete in a mini-championship. The winner of this small tournament will play the intercontinental play-offs to hope to hang a 10th place for Africa in 2026.

Announcement on the CAN 2025 and 2027 before September

A little earlier, therefore, 54 national associations that make up CAF will have proceeded to the third of the renewal of the members of the executive committee of CAF.

Despite the solemnity of the moment, we should not expect a big announcement as the official designation of the organizing countries of the CAN 2025 and 2027. While rumors have been rumbling for a few days on the attribution of 2025 to Morocco and 2027 to Algeria, the president of the Confederation of African Football, Patrice Motsepe told RFI that there will be no communication on the CAN in question. "But it will be announced before September," he promises.

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• CAN 2024
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