African Play-Offs for FIFA World Cup 2026 Qualifiers take centre stage
Between them, the four protagonists chasing a place in the FIFA World Cup finals have been to 15 previous tournaments, but all but one will be eliminated by the end of this week’s FIFA World Cup 2026 Qualifiers African Play-Offs.
Cameroon has had an African record eight previous World Cup appearances, including the last tournament in Qatar in 2022, and in Italy in 1990 became the first African side to reach the quarter-finals.
Nigeria has been to six finals, the last of which was in Russia in 2018.
The Democratic Republic of Congo was a finalist in 1974 when the country was still called Zaire, while Gabon has never previously qualified.
All four, however, have an equal chance this week in a potentially thrilling knockout tournament where there will be no second chances.
Nigeria will take on Gabon in Rabat on Thursday, followed by Cameroon against DR Congo later the same evening.
The two winners then meet in the Moroccan capital on Sunday to decide which country advances to the World Cup 2026 Play-Off Tournament, which will feature two finals where the winners of the two semi-finals between the unseeded teams will face the two seeded teams, with the eventual winners securing two spots at the FIFA World Cup 2026.
The African Play-Offs winners will join Bolivia (CONMEBOL) and New Caledonia (the OFC), plus teams from Asia and Concacaf, at the six-nation Play-Off Tournament during the international match window from 23 to 31 March 2026.
Nigeria are the highest ranked among the four teams in Morocco this week but only just squeezed onto the list of the four best runners-up across the nine African qualifying groups for the 2026 finals.
The last goal in their 4-0 win over Benin in Uyo last month proved enough to secure them a spot, and they go into the playoffs with a marked improvement in form after a slow start to their qualifying campaign, which saw them fail to win any of their first four group matches.
Gabon collected 25 points, with eight wins and a draw in their 10 Group F matches, finishing one point behind Côte d’Ivoire. They will be hoping that Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has kept his scoring boots on after the four goals he netted against The Gambia last month.
DR Congo finished two points behind Senegal in their group, while Cameroon were four points adrift of Cabo Verde.
The Indomitable Lions and Leopards have a long history of crunch encounters behind them but have not played a full international against each other in a decade, not since a 2015 friendly in Belgium that ended in a 1-1 draw.
