The Super Eagles of Nigeria will face a long and tortuous road in their bid to qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, reports Completesports.com.
The Confederation of African Football (CAF) executive committee approved the format and dates of the qualifiers at its meeting in Algiers, Algeria on Thursday.
The new format has been adapted in line with FIFA’s expanded FIFA World Cup format.
48 countries will participate in the competition for the first time.
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All the 54 Member Associations of CAF who will be divided into nine (9) Groups.
Winners of each Group will automatically qualify for the FIFA World Cup 2026.
The four best runners-up (from the Groups) will play in a CAF Play-Off tournament. The winner (CAF Play-Off tournament) will play in the FIFA Play-off Tournament.
The Super Eagles failed to qualify for the last edition of the World Cup hosted by Qatar.
The 2026 World Cup finals will be hosted by Canada, Mexico and United States of America.
By Adeboye Amosu
10 Comments
This wouldn’t be easy, but I think it is the best option..
I suspect the top 9 countries according to the fifa ranking will be seeded.. which means countries like Ghana and south Africa will not be seeded in pot1 and could face Nigeria or any other top side..
My only concern is the availability of good pitches and var in all matches.. if Nigeria fails to provide a good stadium caf should send us to another country with a good pitch..
I have always preferred a group qualification format in lieu of the group-final knockout qualification formula like in the last world cup qualifiers.
Also, I pray they abrogate away goals. Also, of left to me, I would exclude VAR from the qualifiers.
Why would you want to exclude VAR in an important competition like this? Abolishing the away goals rule is my biggest concern. I seriously hate the away goals rule.
But what shows that the fifa ranking wldnt change eventually favoring Ghana
WITH THE WAY SUPER EAGLE ALWAYS PLAY LIKE A CHICKEN WITH THEIR CHICKEN LEGS, CAN THEY QUALIFY FOR NEXT WORLD CUP WITH THIS CAF NEW FORMAT.
MORE ALSO, WITH THE SET OF SENTIMENTAL, CORRUPTION & BRIBE-TAKEN COACHES TOGETHER WITH CORRUPTED NFF & SPORT MINISTER, I SEE THE MISSION IS IMPOSSIBLE.
UNLESS if forceful and drastic action is taken by employing al rightful coach in the class of HERVE RENALD,AMUNEKE or coaches that know about Africa teams and Nigeria players vey well.
Once we have a decent minister of sports with the incoming government Nigerians will see an improvement in quality of our football stadiums
This is exactly how Europe has been deriving their World Cup Qualifiers. There are no preliminary for small teams and everyone is lumped into groups
Faroe Islands, Gibraltar, Lichtenstein, Malta,Andorra, all in with the likes of Germany, Italy, England.
FOR NEXT AFCON QUALIFIER, PASEIRO SHOULD INVITE GOALKEEPER ADELEYE- S.OSIGWE, EBUEHI, ONYEDIKA, AL-HASSAN, ORBAN, BONIFACE, DESSERS, CHUBA AKPOM, JOSH-MAJA, EJUKE.
SAY NO TO BENCH-WARMWER ONUACHU, MUSA, IHEANACHO, NDIDI, ARIBO OMERUO, BALOGUN
Then we get beat.You think football is just that easy?
You need just a handful of players not so many otherwise you will see disjointed football because players who haven’t played together are called to play an important game after just a couple of days training.
I’m afraid Peseiro won’t toe that line.Perhaps three new players at most in my opinion.
Na your Papa be bench warmer