Mzansi gets another chance to qualify for the FIFA World Cup
The journey to the FIFA World Cup™ 2026 was officially mapped as CAF conducted the draw of the African Preliminary Qualifiers
Bafana Bafana have been handed a tricky draw in their quest to qualify for the 2026 world cup tournament to be jointly hosted in United States, Mexico and Canada after the draw was made for the African qualifiers in Abidjan the capital of Ivory Coast on July 13.
South Africa has been featured in group C alongside Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Benin, Rwanda and Lesotho.
A total of 54 African nations will compete for the available 9.5 allocated spots for Africa, with the qualifiers officially starting in November.
The top team in each of the nine groups, which each contain six countries, qualify automatically for the World Cup.
The four best runners-up will enter an African playoff stage, where the winners will feature in the inter-confederation playoffs to be held in March 2026.
The winner of the CAF Play-Off Tournament will play in the FIFA Play-off Tournament to potentially be the 10th African nation.
Commenting on the draw, Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos says his charges are in a much better place than they were two years ago and he strongly believes that they can qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
Broos who has been at the helm of Bafana since May 2021 said the team has improved during the period and that his charges will be targeting the top spot in the group.
“The away games will be very important in a group like ours, but now a little bit more because we have five difficult away games for different reasons,” said Broos.
“I think it is possible for South Africa to qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup first in the group. If you see the progress we have made in the last two years, you cannot compare those qualifiers (for the 2026 World Cup) with the qualifiers for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar. We are better now, we have a better team now. So okay, I am confident.”
The official Draw comes just hours after the 45th CAF General Assembly which was also attended by CAF President Dr Patrice Motsepe and FIFA President, Gianni Infantino in Abidjan.