Confirming the uniqueness of the seventh day.. Kaf reveals the details of the 2026 World Cup and the July 12th draw
The Confederation of African Football (CAF) officially announced today the new system for the 2026 World Cup qualifiers, in addition to the date of the draw and the rounds.
The qualifiers will be held with the participation of the 54 African teams, which will be divided into 9 groups, from which the leaders will qualify directly for the World Cup. .
The Confederation of African Football at the executive office level held its meeting, chaired by South African Patrick Motsepe, to discuss the qualifying system for the new World Cup.
The Executive Committee also announced that the official draw for the 2026 FIFA World Cup Africa Qualifiers will take place on Wednesday 12th July 2023 in Cotonou, Benin - the night before the 45th Ordinary General Assembly of CAF.
The dates for the qualifying rounds are as follows:
The first and second rounds, from 13 to 21 November 2023.
The third and fourth rounds, from 3 to 11 June 2024.
The fifth and sixth rounds, from 17 to 25 March 2025.
The seventh and eighth rounds, from 1 to 9 September 2025.
The ninth and tenth round, from 6 to 14 October 2025.
Supplement to the qualifying round between 10 and 18 November 2025.
FIFA qualifying play-off in March 2026.
Details of the adoption by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) of the new system for the qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup, which will be held in America, Canada and Mexico.
The African Confederation revealed, on its official website, the date of the official draw for the African qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup, and the draw will take place on Wednesday, July 12, in Benin.
The African qualifiers system for the 2026 World Cup consists of dividing 54 teams into 9 groups.
The group winners qualify for the World Cup directly, while the best 4 teams that finished in second place compete in a tournament from which a team competing for the World Cup seat in the FIFA Supplement qualifies.
The draw for the African qualifiers for the World Cup | Egypt is away from 8 teams and plays 10 matches
The draw for the African qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup is the biggest and most important event that football fans on the African continent await during the next few days.
The draw for the African qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup takes on a different character due to the number of qualified teams from the African continent, which amounts to 9 and a half seats for the first time in its history.
Last May, the Confederation of African Football (CAF) announced the date for the 2026 World Cup qualifiers draw, after the Executive Committee meeting that was held in Algeria at the time.
The date of the draw for the African qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup
The Confederation of African Football announced that the 2026 World Cup African qualifiers draw ceremony will be held on Wednesday, July 12, 2023 in Cotonou, the economic capital of Benin.
This comes the night before the 45th Ordinary General Assembly of the Confederation of African Football, in the same country.
Yesterday, reports came out about the possibility of moving the meeting from Benin to another country due to the lack of completion of the preparations for the hall designated for the lottery and the meeting.
The African qualifiers system for the 2026 World Cup
According to the competition and qualifiers system, 54 African countries approved by FIFA will participate in the qualifiers from the group stage, and they will be distributed to 9 groups, each group of 6 teams.
Each team will play 10 matches, 5 back and forth, so that the first-ranked team will advance directly to the 2026 World Cup.
The best 4 teams that finished in second place compete in a tournament from which a team competing for a place to qualify for the World Cup qualifies in the global play-off.
Egypt is moving away from 8 teams
According to the lottery system, the African teams ranked from 1 to 9 will be at the top of each group.
Thus, Egypt will avoid meeting any team from this classification, that is, it will move away from facing the 8 strongest teams in the continent during the qualifiers.
According to the latest classification of African teams, Egypt will avoid facing Morocco, Senegal, Tunisia, Algeria, Nigeria, Cameroon, Côte d'Ivoire and Burkina Faso, while Egypt may face other strong teams such as Mali and South Africa.
Latest rankings for African teams
The last classification of African teams came in April 2023, in order, Morocco, Senegal, Tunisia, Algeria, Egypt, Nigeria, Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Mali.
World Cup 2026: What are the expectations regarding the organization, stadiums and the number of participating teamsThe 2022 World Cup, hosted by Qatar, will always be remembered as the most "tight" FIFA World Cup in history, and FIFA President Gianni Infantino described it as "the best World Cup ever", but the 2026 World Cup will be completely different.
While all the matches this time took place in stadiums separated by an hour by car, the next World Cup will be held across three countries, namely Canada, the United States and Mexico, and the competition will be expanded with the participation of 16 additional teams, which means more matches.
However, the tournament matches will be held within five weeks, starting in mid-June 2026.
The question here is about how many trips players and fans will have to make, as the tournament will be played in 11 US cities, along with three stadiums in Mexico and two in Canada.
Thus, the issue of environment and sustainability will be important with the large number of flights needed to transport teams, fans, media and FIFA officials across three countries.
Why will more teams than ever before participate in the 2026 tournament?
FIFA decided to increase the number of teams participating in the upcoming FIFA Men's World Cup from 32 to 48 teams.
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This means bringing in more money through sponsorship, merchandising, ticket sales and broadcast revenue, and FIFA expects to generate $11 billion in profits over the four years to December 2026.
It is expected that huge crowds will attend the upcoming World Cup matches with the continuous increase in the popularity of soccer in North America.
FIFA expects up to 5.5 million fans to attend the next tournament, which exceeds the record of 3.6 million fans who attended matches in the 1994 tournament hosted by the United States, and the average number of attendees per match was 68 thousand people.
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FIFA's board of directors says a large portion of the profits will be distributed to develop the sport of football around the world, with projects including investments to support women's football.
An increase in the number of teams competing will mean more teams from Africa and Asia will participate.
In the 2022 tournament, the total number of teams participating in the finals from across the two continents was 11, including the Qatar national team, which qualified automatically as the host country team, and the Australian national team, which participated in the qualifiers among the Asian teams, and then defeated Peru in a passing play-off match. for continents.
In 2026, there will be no less than 17 teams from the continents of Africa and Asia, and the number can reach 19 teams, depending on the two countries that win through the six-team play-off matches between the continents to qualify for the finals.
No less than six teams from the North, Central American and Caribbean Football Confederation (CONCACAF), including Canada, Mexico and the United States, will qualify for the World Cup automatically as the host nations.
Where will the matches be held in 2026?

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The final match of the 1994 World Cup was played at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California
It announced the names of the 16 stadiums that will host the competitions in June, and they are almost all built and ready, including most of the large-capacity stadiums used by teams in the National Football League in the United States.
Some stadiums will undergo development and improvement before 2026, and others will need to extend the grass, as FIFA does not allow the use of artificial turf.
According to information about the 2026 tournament, 80 matches will be played across the tournament, although this may change. The United States will host 60 matches, including all quarter-final matches and beyond, while Canada and Mexico will each host 10 matches.
The host stadiums for the 2026 World Cup are:
United State
New York/New Jersey: MetLife Stadium
Los Angeles: SoFi Stadium (Sofi)
Dallas: AT&T Stadium (Dallas Cowboys)
San Francisco Bay Area: Levi's Stadium
Miami: Hard Rock Stadium
Atlanta: Mercedes-Benz Stadium
Seattle: Lumen Field
Houston: NRG Stadium
Philadelphia: Lincoln Financial Field
Kansas City, Missouri: Arrowhead Stadium
Boston/Foxboro: Gillette Stadium
Canada
Toronto: BMO Field
Vancouver: BC Place Stadium
Mexico
Guadalajara: Akron Stadium
Mexico City: Azteca Stadium
Monterrey: BBVA Bancomer Stadium
The geographical spread of the upcoming World Cup competitions has not been announced, but it is likely that teams will play their matches in the group stage within the same regional area.
There are three main groups of venues divided by geography, which should help reduce the amount of trips required, at least during part of the tournament.
Western Region:
Vancouver
Seattle
San Francisco Bay Area
Los Angeles
Guadalajara
Central Region:
Kansas City
dallas
Atlanta
Houston
monterey
Mexico City
Eastern Province:
Toronto
Boston
Philadelphia
Miami
New York / New Jersey
How will the 2026 tournament matches be organized?
The final decision will be made by the FIFA Council in 2023.
The initial preferred option was to have 16 groups of three. Each team will play two matches in the group instead of three matches, provided that the first and second place winners qualify for the round of 32.
However, the negative side of this may be that the two teams that will play in the last match in the group stage can agree on a certain result that allows them to qualify for the higher round. This is what was said to have happened in the 1982 World Cup, when West Germany and Austria qualified for the second round at the expense of Algeria in the so-called "Gijon scandal".
Given the success of the four-team group format in the 2022 tournament, the coordination structure for 2026 will be reconsidered, according to FIFA President Gianni Infantino.
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"I have to say after this World Cup, and the success of the four-team groups, we have to reconsider or re-discuss the structure whether we go for 16 groups of three or 12 groups of four," Infantino said.
Indications are that the selection will end up in 12 groups of four teams, practically divided into two halves (like two European teams at once).
Another possibility, though it seems unlikely, is that matches within groups are not allowed to end in a draw. If the two teams are tied after 90 minutes, the result can be decided by penalty shootout without the need for additional time.
Where will the final match of the 2026 World Cup be held?
MetLife Stadium in New Jersey may host the final match of the 2026 World Cup
This decision has not been made yet, but it will be made next year.
The first candidate to host the final match is MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, which has a capacity of 82,500 seats. It is the home of the New York Giants and New York Jets, two of the American League teams.
He also put forward Estadio Azteca in Mexico as a possible host for the opening match.
Both stadiums are vying to host the final match of the 2026 World Cup, but FIFA President Infantino said the world soccer's governing body would take its time to make a decision.
"There are still some discussions to be had, and we will definitely choose the two best cities for the opening and final matches," Infantino said, adding, "But every match will be like a final in this World Cup."
What about the 2030 World Cup?
This will be a special event, coinciding with the celebration of the centenary of the World Cup and the 100th anniversary since the first FIFA World Cup was held in Uruguay, in which only 13 teams participated.
Uruguay has been calling for some time to be granted the hosting of this tournament, perhaps in partnership with Argentina.
Spain and Portugal also hope UEFA will support them, but England have dropped interest in bidding for Euro 2028 alongside Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.
Another potential contender could be Saudi Arabia, although that could mean another winter tournament due to the high summer temperatures in the Middle East.
A decision on hosting the 2030 World Cup will be taken by the FIFA Council in 2024.