The Black Stars have been handed tricky opponents in the official draw of the FIFA World Cup 2026™African Preliminaries Qualifiers conducted on Thursday, 13 July in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire.
Ghana have been paired alongside Chad, Comoros, Central African Republic, Madagascar and Mali in Group I of the draw for the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers
The four-time African champions will be hoping to secure its fourth appearance at the global showpiece by securing a top-spot finish in the group.
The Black Stars failed to make it to the 2018 edition after making three consecutive appearances at the World Cup — 2006 in Germany, 2010 in South Africa and 2014 in Brazil — and qualified for the 2022 edition in Qatar.
The official draw for the first-ever FIFA World Cup to be staged in there countries namely United States of America (USA), Canada and Mexico consisted of six African nations in nine different groups.
Winners of each Group will automatically qualify for the FIFA World Cup™ 2026.
The four best runners-up (from the Groups) will play in a CAF Play-Off tournament. The winner of the CAF Play-Off Tournament will play in the FIFA Play-off Tournament.
The qualifiers are scheduled to start in November this year, with Match Day One and Two scheduled for between 13-21 November, while the third and fourth match days are scheduled for June 2024.
The last match day will be in the week of October 6-14 while the Continental play-off will be staged between 10-18 November 2025 at a venue to be communicated later.
BELOW IS THE FULL DRAW OF THE 2026 FIFA World Cup Qualifiers
Group A
Djibouti
Ethiopia
Sierra Leone
Guinea Bissau
Burkina Faso
Egypt
Group B
South Sudan
Sudan
Togo
Mauritania
Democratic Republic of Congo
Senegal
Group C
Lesotho
Rwanda
Zimbabwe
Benin
South Africa
Nigeria
Group D
Mauritius
Eswatini
Libya
Angola
Cape Verde
Cameroon
Group E
Eritrea
Niger
Tanzania
Congo
Zambia
Morocco
Group F
Seychelles
Burundi
The Gambia
Kenya
Gabon
Cote D'Ivoire
Group G
Somalia
Botswana
Mozambique
Uganda
Guinea
Algeria
Group H
Sao Tome and Principe
Liberia
Malawi
Namibia
Equatorial Guinea
Tunisia
Group I
Chad
Comoros
Central African Republic
Madagascar
Ghana
Mali
