JOHANNESBURG: Africa will employ a single stage World Cup qualification for the 2026 finals, doing away with three rounds previously for a format that will take almost two years to complete.

The continent will have nine places at the expanded 48-team tournament in North America and have decided on a format of nine groups, where the winner alone will qualify for the World Cup, the Confederation of African Football announced on Friday.

Africa previously had up to three stages of qualification — preliminary rounds involving the lower ranked countries, then a group stage followed by two-legged playoffs to decide the five representatives the continent has previously had at the finals.

For last year’s event in Qatar, the entire African qualifying process was squashed into a six-month period but for 2026 it will take 23 months before the identity of the nine finalists are known. The draw for the nine groups will be made on July 12.

It gave no further explanation but is expecting all 54 African countries to enter, meaning each group will be made up of six nations, and will likely seed teams for the draw according to the latest FIFA rankings.

Published in Dawn, May 20th, 2023