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The Super Eagles of Nigeria have been paired against South Africa, Benin Republic, Zimbabwe, Rwanda and Lesotho in Group C of the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers to be staged in the USA, Mexico and Canada.
At the draw ceremony conducted on Thursday in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire within the belt of the CAF Ordinary General Assembly, the Super Eagles top Group B which also has Zimbabwe’s Warriors, South Africa’s Bafana Bafana, Rwanda’s Amavubi, Benin Republic’s Cheetahs and Lesotho’s Crocodiles.
There will be 54 nations looking to qualify for the global football showpiece with plenty of ambitious teams that believe they can emulate the efforts from Morocco in Qatar.
There are six teams in each of the nine groups, with only the group winners guaranteed slots at the expanded FIFA World Cup finals in the summer of 2026.
The best four second-placed teams in the nine groups will then contest a mini-tournament, with the winner eligible for a playoff spot for another slot in USA/Canada/Mexico finals.
Each of the teams will play two of their 10 matches in the campaign in the FIFA window of November this year, with the other eight games to be spread between 2024 and 2025.
GROUP A: Egypt, Burkina Faso, Guinea Bissau, Sierra Leone, Ethiopia, Djibouti
GROUP B: Senegal, DR Congo, Mauritania, Togo, Sudan, South Sudan
GROUP C: Nigeria, South Africa, Benin Republic, Zimbabwe, Rwanda, Lesotho
GROUP D: Cameroon, Cape Verde, Angola, Libya, eSwatini, Mauritius
GROUP E: Morocco, Zambia, Congo, Tanzania, Niger Republic, Eritrea
GROUP F: Cote d’Ivoire, Gabon, Kenya, The Gambia, Burundi, Seychelles
GROUP G: Algeria, Guinea, Uganda, Mozambique, Botswana, Somalia
GROUP H: Tunisia, Equatorial Guinea, Namibia, Malawi, Liberia, Sao Tome & Principe
GROUP I: Mali, Ghana, Madagascar, Central African Republic, Comoros, Chad