Tanzania to discover pathway to 2026 FIFA World Cup finals  

14Jul 2023
Michael Mwebe
DAR ES SALAAM
Sport
The Guardian
Tanzania to discover pathway to 2026 FIFA World Cup finals  

TANZANIA will discover the 2026 World Cup Qualifiers opponents this evening as the Confederation of African Football (CAF) conducts the all-important draw for the tournament.

Taifa Stars players are pictured in a training session at Benjamin Mkapa Stadium in Dar es Salaam last month, shaping up for a 2023 Africa Cup of Nations Qualifiers' tie against Niger which took place at the stadium. PHOTO: CORRESPONDENT JUMANNE JUMA

The official draw of African Preliminaries Qualifiers for the 2026 FIFA World Cup will be conducted in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire– a few hours after the 45th CAF Ordinary Assembly that will also be held in the same city.

 

All 54 CAF member nations have officially entered the draw, including Zimbabwe whose suspension by FIFA since February 2022 due to government interference in football was lifted on Monday.

 

For the draw, the 54 teams will be divided into nine groups of six, and the winners of each group will automatically qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

 

As the World Cup finals tournament has expanded to 48 teams from the previous high of 32, there will be a further qualification chance for teams that finished second in their respective groups in the African qualifiers.

 

The four best runners-up from the groups will play in a CAF Play-Off tournament. The winner of the CAF Play-Off tournament joins five other teams in an inter-confederation tournament with two World Cup places up for grabs.

 

To determine the composition of each group, teams have been seeded into six pots.

 

The seedings that were released by the world football governing body were based on the FIFA Rankings for June.

 

Taifa Stars has been seeded in Pot 4 alongside Mozambique, Gambia, Sierra Leone, Togo, Zimbabwe, Central African Republic, Malawi, and Libya.

 

Tanzania, with its population of 61 million people, has never played in the World Cup finals.

 

Since 1966, Taifa Stars have made 10 unsuccessful World Cup qualification attempts.

 

In the last attempt, Taifa Stars finished third in a group that had eventual winners DR Congo, second-placed Benin, and Madagascar which ended bottom.

 

Pot 1 is made up of Morocco, Senegal, Tunisia, Algeria, Egypt, Nigeria, Cameroon, Mali, and Ivory Coast.

 

Burkina Faso, Ghana, South Africa, Cape Verde, DR Congo, Guinea, Zambia, Gabon, and Equatorial Guinea make  Pot 2.

 

Pot 3 includes Uganda, Benin, Kenya, Mauritania, Congo, Madagascar, Guinea Bissau, Namibia, and Angola.

 

Teams making Pot 4 are Mozambique, Gambia, Sierra Leone, Togo, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Central African Republic, Malawi, Libya

 

Pot 5 has Niger, Comoros, Sudan, Rwanda, Burundi, Ethiopia, Eswatini, Botswana, and Liberia, whilst Pot 6 has Lesotho, South Sudan, Mauritius, Chad, Sao Tome, Djibouti, Seychelles, Eritrea, and Somalia.

 

 

 

 

 

Top Stories