Nigeria’s Super Eagles will face Gabon in the semi-finals of the African play-offs for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, following the conclusion of the qualifying group stage matches on Tuesday.
The Super Eagles confirmed their place among the four best runners-up after a commanding 4–0 win over Benin Republic, while Gabon sealed second place in Group F with a 2–0 victory against Burundi, helped by Ivory Coast’s triumph over Kenya.
Under the Confederation of African Football (CAF) qualification format, nine African teams have already qualified directly for the World Cup by finishing top of their respective groups. However, Africa has a chance to earn one additional spot through the inter-confederation play-offs scheduled for March 2026.
To determine which country will represent the continent in that final qualifying phase, CAF has introduced a special mini-tournament involving the four best second-placed teams from the group stage. These teams — Nigeria, Gabon, Cameroon, and DR Congo — will compete in Morocco from November 13 to 16, 2025.
Based on FIFA’s latest rankings, Nigeria are expected to enter the play-offs as the highest-ranked team and will face Gabon, the lowest-ranked of the quartet, in the first semi-final. The second semi-final will feature Cameroon against DR Congo.
Both semi-finals are slated for November 13, with the winners progressing to a single-leg final on November 16. The eventual champion will represent Africa in the inter-confederation play-offs, where teams from other continents — including South America, Asia, and Oceania — will vie for the last available berths at the 2026 World Cup.
CAF announced that all matches will be single-leg encounters to be decided in regulation time, or through extra time and penalties if necessary. Morocco will serve as host for the mini-tournament.
The new qualifying structure stems from FIFA’s expansion of the World Cup to 48 teams, increasing Africa’s guaranteed slots from five to nine, with a possible tenth spot through the global play-offs.
So far, nine teams have already secured automatic qualification: Senegal, Ivory Coast, Morocco, Algeria, Egypt, Mali, Cape Verde, Tunisia, and South Africa. The play-offs will now decide whether Nigeria, Cameroon, DR Congo, or Gabon will join them — keeping alive the dream of an additional African representative at the 2026 World Cup in Canada, Mexico, and the United States.
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