The Black Stars of Ghana have been drawn in Group I for the preliminary draw of the African qualifiers for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
The four-time African champions will come up against Madagascar, Comoros, Chad, Central African Republic, and Mali.
CAF in May announced a new format for the qualifiers of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, following the decision by FIFA to increase Africa’s quota from five to nine direct tickets.
From the new format which was approved by the Executive Committee of CAF during its meeting in Algiers on Thursday, all the 54 Member Associations will be divided into nine groups of six teams each.
Games will be played on a round-robin basis, and the top team from each group after Match Day 10, will earn an automatic qualification to the 2026 World Cup.
Subsequently, the best four second-placed teams from across all nine groups will enter into a Continental play-off to determine one winner who will then proceed to a second and final play-off which will include six teams from the other different confederations.
From here, another African country could secure qualification to bring the total number of representatives from the continent to 10.
The next FIFA World Cup will be hosted by the United States, Mexico, and Canada.
The African qualifiers which will be played in a period of two years will commence in November this year.
Chris Hughton’s boys are chasing a fifth World Cup appearance after participating in the 2006, 2010, 2014 and 2022 editions.
Here is the full draw:
Group A: Egypt, Burkina Faso, Guinea-Bissau, Sierra Leone, Ethiopia, Djibouti
Group B: Senegal, Congo DR, Mauritania, Togo, Sudan, South Sudan
Group C: Nigeria, South Africa, Benin, Zimbabwe, Rwanda, Lesotho
Group D: Cameroon, Cape Verde, Angola, Libya, Swaziland, Mauritius
Group E: Morocco, Zambia, Congo, Tanzania, Niger, Eritrea
Group F: Côte d’Ivoire, Gabon, Kenya, The Gambia, Burundi, Seychelles
Group G: Algeria, Guinea, Uganda, Mozambique, Botswana, Somalia
Group H: Tunisia, Equatorial Guinea, Namibia, Malawi, Liberia, São Tomé
Group I: Mali, Ghana, Madagascar, CAR, Comoros, Chad