World Cup
Super Eagles’ path to 2026 World Cup to be paved on Wednesday
Qatar 2022 World Cup glaring absentee, Super Eagles of Nigeria will on Wednesday discover who they must overcome to qualify for the next edition in Canada, Mexico and the USA.
The NFF president, Ibrahim Gusau will be among those who will be present in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire for the General Assembly of CAF the event which will have as sideline, the draw for the African teams’ qualification for the next World Cup.
Employing seeding technique, the 54 African entries will be divided into nine groups of six teams. All eventual group leaders will secure places at the World Cup.
The best four runners-up will then go into play-offs and the winners join five other teams in an inter-confederation tournament with two World Cup places up for grabs.
Were an African team to fill one of those slots, the continent will have a record 10 representatives at the 2026 finals, up from five in Qatar last year.
For Wednesday’s draw, Morocco, the first semi-finalists from Africa, Cameroon, Senegal and Tunisia who featured at the 2022 tournament and are among the nine first seeds for the draw along with Nigeria.
But the fifth African participants, Ghana, miss out and, along with eight other teams including South Africa and the Democratic Republic of Congo, have to settle for being second seeds.
Seeding for the Abidjan draw is based on the June FIFA world rankings and four-time World Cup qualifiers Ghana lie 11th.
Mali were the big winners in the rankings, climbing two places to eighth in Africa after a 2-0 victory over Congo Brazzaville in an Africa Cup of Nations qualifier.
Winning gave the Malians top-seed status and relegated Burkina Faso, 3-1 losers to Cape Verde in another Cup of Nations match, to second seeds.
– Avoid giants –
The advantage of being among the nine top seeds is avoiding the giants of African football like Morocco and Senegal, last-16 losers to England in Qatar.
Lacking injured star Sadio Mane, Senegal did not match pre-tournament expectations, losing to the Netherlands in a group game and being outplayed by England.
But the disappointing showing by the Cup of Nations title-holders was forgotten as Morocco made history.
They topped a group including 2018 runners-up Croatia and star-stacked Belgium, then ousted Spain and Portugal before offering brave resistance before falling to France in the semi-finals.
Morocco made history despite a late change of coaches with Bosnian Vahid Halilhodzic axed and Walid Regragui taking over having led Wydad Casablanca to the CAF Champions League title.
After Morocco finished fourth in Qatar, France-born Regragui predicted Africa would end the European-South American monopoly of the World Cup “in 15 to 20 years”.
While all 54 CAF member nations have officially entered the draw, Zimbabwe have been suspended by FIFA since February 2022 due to government interference in football.
Unless the ban is lifted before the first two matchdays this November, the southern Africa country cannot take part.
When the 2023 Cup of Nations qualifying draw was made, Zimbabwe were included in the hope that talks would lead to the suspension falling away, but this did not happen and they were barred.
Zimbabwe were banned from 2018 World Cup qualifying after failing to pay a former national coach, Brazilian Jose Claudinei Georgini.
The pots for the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers:
Pot 1: Nigeria, Morocco, Senegal, Algeria, Tunisia, Cameroon, Mali, Egypt
Pot 2: Ghana, Burkina Faso, South Africa, Cape Verde, DR Congo, Guinea, Zambia, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea
Pot 3: Angola, Benin, Kenya, Mauritania, Congo, Uganda, Madagascar, Guinea Bissau, Namibia
Pot 4: Mozambique, Gambia, Sierra Leone, Togo, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Central African Republic, Malawi, Libya
Pot 5: Niger, Comoros, Sudan, Rwanda, Burundi, Ethiopia, Eswatini, Botswana, Liberia
Pot 6: Lesotho, South Sudan, Mauritius, Chad, Sao Tome, Djibouti, Seychelles, Eritrea, Somalia
Nine people sustained non-life-threatening injuries in a shooting near England’s World Cup base camp in Kansas City, Missouri, on Saturday, days before the tournament is due to kick off.
Kansas City police said there were no suspects in custody and that at least three of the shooting victims were transported to local hospitals.
The incident occurred roughly four miles from where England are set to train at Swope Soccer Village. England have not arrived in Kansas City and are due to play a friendly against Costa Rica in Orlando, Florida, on Wednesday.
A spokesperson for the FA declined to comment.
Gun violence is common in the United States, where there were more than 400 mass shootings in 2025, according to the Gun Violence Archive.
-Reuters
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Morocco concluded their preparations for the FIFA World Cup with a hard-fought 1-1 draw against Norway in an international friendly on Sunday, showing flashes of attacking quality before being forced to withstand late pressure from the Europeans.
The Atlas Lions made a bright start and took the lead after just seven minutes through star forward Brahim Diaz. The Real Madrid attacker capitalised on space outside the penalty area to unleash a powerful strike that gave Norway goalkeeper Orjan Nyland no chance.
The goal marked Diaz’s first for Morocco since the Africa Cup of Nations earlier this year, where he finished as the tournament’s top scorer despite the disappointment of missing a penalty in the final.
Morocco looked the more dangerous side in the opening stages and nearly doubled their advantage midway through the first half. Abdessamad Ezzalzouli connected with a teasing cross from Diaz but sent his volley narrowly off target.
The North Africans continued to threaten after the break. Diaz again tested the Norwegian defence in the 57th minute, forcing Nyland into a save before midfielder Neil El Aynaoui headed the rebound over the crossbar.
While Morocco controlled large portions of the contest, Norway gradually grew into the game and mounted sustained pressure in the closing stages. Their persistence paid off 15 minutes from then when captain Martin Odegaard finished neatly with his left foot after a clever run and assist from Oscar Bobb.
Norway almost snatched victory late on, but Kristian Thorstvedt’s header from Julian Ryerson’s free-kick drifted narrowly wide, allowing Morocco to preserve the draw.
Despite surrendering their early lead, the result offers several positives for coach Walid Regragui ahead of Morocco’s opening World Cup Group C fixture against Brazil in New York on Saturday. The Atlas Lions demonstrated their attacking threat through Diaz while also showing resilience under pressure as they defended resolutely in the closing minutes.
With Brazil, Haiti and Scotland also in Group C, Morocco will take encouragement from another competitive performance as they prepare for one of the toughest opening assignments of the tournament.
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Netherlands coach Ronald Koeman plans to use Monday’s friendly against Uzbekistan in New York as an opportunity for his first-choice line-up to have a proper dress rehearsal ahead of their opening World Cup clash against Japan next weekend.
The rest of the Dutch squad will then play a second unofficial game against the Uzbeks straight afterwards, made up of two 35-minute halves, Koeman announced on Sunday.
“We want to use the first match to make as few changes as possible. We have to wait and see if that works,” he said at a press conference ahead of the clash at the Ichan Stadium.
“We are going to play the first match largely with our starting team. It is also good for guys who are not 100% fit, who can then play in the second match. That is why we are playing two matches.
“We have 26 players, and everyone gets minutes to play. That’s what you want.”
A decision still needs to be made regarding defender Jurrien Timber, who only joined the squad last Thursday after playing for Arsenal in the Champions League final on May 30.
It was Timber’s first outing since March after struggling with a groin injury, and there remains concern over his levels of fitness.
“If he trains and is fully fit, he always makes a good impression. That hasn’t been the case every day, so we have to make a decision,” Koeman told reporters.
“He participated in training, and we are going to sit down with the doctor and Jurrien at the end of Sunday afternoon to see whether he is going to start or not,” the coach added.
The Dutch open their Group F campaign against Japan in Dallas on Sunday. Uzbekistan take on Colombia on June 17 in Group K.
-Reuters
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