Instead of five, there will be nine or 10 African qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico, as the tournament has been expanded to accept 48 teams.

The main objective of the Confederation of African Football is for an African nation to win the World Cup, and this ambition is now within reach. Morocco made history in Qatar by becoming the first African representative to reach the semi-finals. However, no team from the African continent has ever yet won the World Cup, but perhaps it's only a matter of time. Make bets on the World Cup with bwin.

Betting on the CAF World Cup Qualifiers

There are 54 CAF nations in the starting line-up; after the first round - the thirty-six nations ranked from 19 to 54 will play each other. The eighteen winners will advance to the second round, which is much more competitive and will knock out the worst-performing sides.

For the second round, thirty-six teams, consisting of the teams ranked 1-18, and eighteen winners of the first round will be divided into nine groups of four teams to play two-legged matches against the other three nations in their group. The nine winners will qualify for the World Cup, with the best runner-up qualifying for the intercontinental playoffs.

In addition to the qualifiers, there will also be the qualifiers for the African Cup of Nations. Place your bets on the CAN.

A place for an African nation in the CDM

A playoff tournament involving six teams will be held to decide the final two spots for the FIFA World Cup. These consist of one team from each confederation, except UEFA, and one additional team from the host country confederation.

Two of the teams will be seeded based on world ranking, and these seeded teams will play for a place in the FIFA World Cup against the winners of the first two knockout matches involving the four non-seeded teams.

The four-game tournament must be played in one or more of the host countries and used as a test event for the FIFA World Cup.

Recommended bets for CAF qualification

With this new method of qualification, the first of each group will qualify. In the last qualification campaigns in the African zone, it was necessary to finish first of its group, in addition to winning a final playoff.

With this new method, it is no longer a final sprint, but more of a marathon. On our online betting platform, make football bets now.