World Cup 2026
Today in Ivory Coast, the draw for the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifying matches took place.
54 teams were divided into nine groups of six teams for home-and-away round robin matches in the draw.
In the preliminary round for the world championship, Ghana, who was placed in Group I, will compete against Mali, Madagascar, the Central African Republic, Comoros, and Chad.
The top four second-place teams from each of the nine groups will compete in a continental play-off to determine one winner, who will then advance to a second and final play-off with six teams from the other confederations. The winners of each group will earn a spot in the World Cup.
To make up the 48 teams for the World Cup, the top two of these six will advance.
The qualifiers are slated to begin in November of this year, with matchdays one and two falling between November 13 and November 21, and matchdays three and four falling between June 2024.
The last match day will take place over the week of October 6–14, and the Continental play-off will take place between November 10–18, 2025, at a location that will be announced later.
After participating in the 2006, 2010, 2014, and 2022 World Cups, Ghana is vying to make an appearance at the tournament five times.
The United States of America, Mexico, and Canada will co-host the next World Cup.
This is the whole draw:
Egypt, Burkina Faso, Guinea-Bissau, Sierra Leone, Ethiopia, and Djibouti are members of Group A.
Senegal, Congo DR, Mauritania, Togo, Sudan, and South Sudan make up Group B.
Nigeria, South Africa, Benin, Zimbabwe, Rwanda, and Lesotho make up Group C.
Angola, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Libya, Swaziland, and Mauritius make up Group D.
Morocco, Zambia, Congo, Tanzania, Niger, and Eritrea make up Group E.
Côte d’Ivoire, Gabon, Kenya, The Gambia, Burundi, and Seychelles make up Group F.
Algeria, Guinea, Uganda, Mozambique, Botswana, and Somalia make up Group G.
Equatorial Guinea, Namibia, Malawi, Liberia, S.O. Tomé, Tunisia, and
Mali, Ghana, Madagascar, CAR, Comoros, Chad, and Group I
