Nigeria to face South Africa, four others for 2026 World Cup ticket
Nigeria’s Super Eagles will face South Africa, Benin Republic, Zimbabwe, Rwanda and Lesotho in the Africa Qualifier matches for a ticket to the FIFA World Cup to be hosted by the North American countries of United States and Canada 2026.
The draws for the tournament held, Wednesday night, Nigeria was placed in Group C to face arch-rivals South Africa in what is expected to be a match-up against a top opponent.
Nigeria’s match against South Africa is expected to top proceedings in the group, with the southern African team ranked in second.
It would be recalled that in the FIFA pre-draws ceremony held, penultimate Friday, in Zurich Switzerland, rewarded Nigeria’s Super Eagles with top seeding in the 2026 World Cup African qualification first round of matches following the country’s climb to the 39th position in the global football ranking for May, 2023.
FIFA at its Africa Qualifiers draws placed Nigeria in Pot 1 for the African qualifiers ahead of the 2026 World Cup.
The Pot 1 placing means the country’s national team cannot face any of the top ranked African teams in the world, like Senegal, Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria.
The 2026 World Cup which will be co-hosted by Canada, Mexico and the United States commenced, Thursday, as FIFA released the pots for the African draws.
The draw pot which was released, Thursday afternoon saw Nigeria’s Super Eagles placed in the Pot 1 alongside Senegal, Tunisia, Morocco, Cameroon, Algeria, Egypt and Mali.
The main group draws will be conducted on July 12.
According to the draw rule, it will be nine groups of six teams with all the group winners qualifying for the competition proper. The four best two will compete in a mini-tournament and the winner will make an intercontinental jump-off.
Last June, Super Eagles moved up to the 39th position in the latest FIFA world ranking of countries in the men’s football category for the month of June.
The Super Eagles, who were ranked 40th in the world in the ranking for May, gained six points in the climb up in the ladder.
The Eagles’ rise in the rankings was largely due to their impressive performance in the recent Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers against Sierra Leone in the month under review.
The Eagles had defeated the Leone Stars 3-1 in the game played in Liberia to book passage into next year’s AFCON billed to hold in Ivory Coast.
FIFA last announced the ranking for men in April with the Eagles ranked 40th.
On the African continent, three-time African champions remain in the top six, which is a big boost for them as it means they will be among the top seeds when the AFCON draw is conducted later in 2023.
Morocco remains Africa’s number one nation, sitting in 13th place in the world ranking.
They are followed by Senegal (18th), Tunisia (31), and Algeria (33).
All the groupings:
Group A:
Egypt, Burkina Faso, Guinea Bissau, Sierra Leone, Ethiopia, Djibouti
Group B:
Senegal, Congo DR, Mauritania, Togo, Sudan and South Sudan
Group C:
Nigeria, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Rwanda, Lesotho, Benin Republic
Group D:
Cameroun, Cape Verde, Angola, Libya and Eswathini, Mauritius
Group E:
Morocco, Zambia, Congo, Niger Republic, Eritrea, Tanzania
Group F:
Cote D’Ivoire, Gabon, Kenya, Gambia. Burundi, Seychelles
Group G:
Algeria, Guinea, Uganda, Mozambique, Botswana, Somalia
Group H:
Tunisia, Equatorial Guinea, Namibia, Malawi, Liberia, Sao Tome
Group I:
Mali, Ghana, Madagascar, Central African Republic (CAR), Comoros, Chad
