Africa World Cup play-offs: How e go work

Di 2026 World Cup African qualifiers play-offs go start on Thursday 13 November, for Rabat, Morocco.

Di four kontris wey dey compete for di 2026 World Cup Africa qualifiers play-offs go reduce to one during dis international window.

Afta dem miss di chance to qualify as di nine teams from di continent automatically, Cameroon, DR Congo, Gabon and Nigeria dey Morocco for di mini-tournament wey na only one winner go emerge.

E no go end dia, sake of say di winner from dis four-kontris tournament go play one or two more matches to reach di World Cup wey go hapun for Canada, Mexico and di United States.

How dem reach di African play-offs?

Gabon, DR Congo , Cameroon and Nigeria finish as di four best second for Africa out of di nine groups.

Dis na afta Caf remove di points wey dis team bin get against di teams wey finish sixth from di eight groups. Eritrea bin withdraw from di competition, wey make Group E get only five teams.

Gabon get di best record, followed by DR Congo and den Cameroon.

Nigeria manage to enta di play-offs sake of goal difference, afta Frank Onyeka score for di 91st-minute.

Na dat 4-0 win over Benin remove Burkina Faso by one goal.

How dem decide di African play-off draw?

Dem use di Fifa world rankings to work out di pairings for di semi-finals, wia di highest-ranked side face di lowest-ranked.

Nigeria wey dey (41st position for di world) go play Gabon wey dey ranked 77th on Thursday.

Cameroon wey dey ranked 54th go face DR Congo 2wey dey ranked 60th di same day.

Di semi-final winners go face each oda on Sunday wia di winner go emerge and also keep dia dream to reach di World Cup alive.

Wetin go hapun to di winners?

Africa play-off winners go progress to di six-team intercontinental qualifier, wey go hapun from 23-31 March 2026 and e go decide di final two sides for next year World Cup.

Two nations from di Concacaf (North, Central America and the Caribbean) region and one side from each of di Asian, Oceanian and South American confederations go also participate..

Dem go split di six nations into two brackets.

Dem go seed di two highest-ranked sides wey go advance directly to di final for each bracket, and di four lowest-ranked competitors go meet for di semi-finals.

Di United Arab Emirates and Iraq go play off for Asia spot, while Bolivia, wey dey represent South America, and New Caledonia, wey dey represent Oceania, don already book dia spots.

Sake of say Bolivia and New Caledonia dey ranked 76th and 150th for di world now, e help to boosts di chance wey di representative of Africa get to advance directly to di final.

Di draw for di play-offs go hold on 20 November and di mini-tournament go be single-leg knockout matches, wit extra-time and penalties.

Who be di favourites to win di Africa play-offs?

Dis na di big question wey African football lovers dey ask.

On paper, Nigeria boast as di strongest side according to di world rankings but dem no perform well for di qualifiers as dem be di worst side to qualify for di play-offs.

Na three different coaches bin manage di Super Eagles during dia Group C fixtures and dem bin struggle wen Victor Osimhen bin no dey sake of im injury.

Na only four points dem bin get from a possible 15 wen Victor bin no dey.

Even wit dis, di West Africans dey unbeaten for six competitive games under Eric Chelle as dem dey try make dem no miss out from dis World Cup back to back.

Cameroon na anoda heavyweight for di continent wey underperform, dem finish four points behind Cape Verde for Group D.

Di Indomitable Lions only win one of dia five away games.

Cameroon get di African record for di most World Cup appearances, but dem need to improve dia form to extend am to ninth World Cup appearance.

Di only World Cup wey DR Congo don attend na for Zaire for 1974 and dem bin finish two points behind Senegal for Group B.

Dem bin troway dia 2-0 against Senegal on home soil for September, dem later lose 3-2.

Newcastle Yoane Wissa still dey absent sake of injury, but fellow forward Cedric Bakambu dey good form to help dem qualify afta e score four goals.

Gabon, dey hope to reach di World Cup for di first time, and dem bin end wit just one point below Ivory Coast for Group F.

Di Panthers boast wit dia sharp attack for Denis Bouanga and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, wey bin score eight and seven goals respectively for di group stage.

Di most of Aubameyang goals bin come wen e score four times against di Gambia last month bifor dem send am off, but im don come back from suspension.

Who dem go face for di World Cup?

Di 2026 World Cup draw go hapun on Friday, 5 December, wen dem go split di 48 teams into 12 groups of four.

Forty-two of di teams go don know dia fate by di time of di draw.

Only di two intercontinental play-off winners and di four winners of European play-offs go remain to know.

Sake of dis, di African side wey dey involved for di intercontinental play-off next year fit know all di sides wey dem go potentially face for dia World Cup group - if dem finally make am to dat stage.