The race to Qatar 2022 has officially kicked off in Africa, following the draw made in Cairo on Monday.
Barely ten days after the continent crowned its new football champion, plans have begun in earnest as eyes have now turned to the World Cup, which is to hold in beautiful country of Qatar.
Qualification
Only 28 teams across Africa, those ranked lowest in July’s edition of the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking, were involved in the draw in Egypt.
All 28 teams have been paired for both home and away fixtures to be played between September 2 and September 10, 2019.
The 14 winners from the draw will join the continent’s top ranked 26 teams, who were exempted from the initial draw. All 40 teams will then be split into ten groups of four countries for the second round of qualifiers.
In the third and final round of the qualifiers, the 10 successful winners will be paired with each other in home-and-away fixtures to decide Africa’s five representatives at the world cup.
28 Low Ranked Teams
Ethiopia v Lesotho
Somalia v Zimbabwe
Eritrea v Namibia
Burundi v Tanzania
Djibouti v eSwatini (formerly Swaziland)
Botswana v Malawi
Gambia v Angola
Liberia v Sierra Leone
Mauritius v Mozambique
Sao Tome e Principe v Guinea-Bissau
South Sudan v Equatorial Guinea
Comoros v Togo
Chad v Sudan
Seychelles v Rwanda
26 Top Ranked Teams
Algeria
Nigeria
Senegal
Tunisia
Morocco
Egypt
Ghana
Cameroon
Democratic Republic of Congo
Ivory Coast
Mali
Burkina Faso
South Africa
Guinea
Cape Verde
Uganda
Zambia
Benin
Gabon
Congo Brazzaville
Madagascar
Niger
Libya
Mauritania
Kenya
Central African Republic
Sources:
FIFA
Punch NG
Featured Image Source: FIFA