2026 FIFA World Cup qualification (CAF)

The 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification (CAF) is the African section of the qualification tournament for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, to be held in the United States of America, Canada and Mexico. A total of nine slots in the final tournament and one inter-confederation play-off slot are reserved for CAF teams.

Format
Due to nine CAF teams now directly qualifying instead of five, the CAF Executive Committee announced a new qualification format on 19 May 2023. Teams were drawn into nine groups of six teams. The winner of each group will directly qualify to the World Cup, while the four best group runners-up will participate in play-offs to determine which team will advance to the inter-confederation play-offs.


 * Group stage: Nine groups of six teams will play in a home-and-away round-robin matches. Group winners will qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
 * Play-off stage: The four best group runners-up will be drawn into play-offs to determine the CAF representative at the inter-confederation play-offs.

First round
Teams have been drawn into nine groups of six teams and will play home-and-away round robin matches from November 2023 to October 2025. The winners of each group will qualify directly to the 2026 FIFA World Cup, and the four best group runners-up will advance to a play-off to determine which team will advance to the inter-confederation play-offs.

Draw
The draw was held on 13 July 2023 at 15:00 GMT (UTC±0) in Abidjan, Ivory Coast. All 54 FIFA-affiliated football associations from CAF entered qualification, however Eritrea withdrew before matches began.

The draw pots were announced on 30 June (numbers in parentheses indicate FIFA Men's World Ranking at the time of the draw):

Ranking of runners-up
Neither CAF nor FIFA have made an official announcement on how Eritrea's withdrawal will affect the rankings of the group runners-up.

Second round
The four best group runners-up will be drawn into play-offs to determine the sole CAF representative at the inter-confederation play-offs. A total of three games will be played.

Inter-confederation play-offs
The play-off winner will join one team each from AFC, CONMEBOL and OFC and two from CONCACAF in the inter-confederation play-offs. The teams will be ranked according to the FIFA Men's World Ranking, with the four lowest-ranked teams playing in two single-elimination matches. The winners will meet the two highest-ranked teams in another set of single-elimination matches, with the winners of these matches qualifying for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

Top goalscorers
Below are full goalscorer lists for each group: Group A

Group B

Group C

Group D

Group E

Group F

Group G

Group H

Group I