Abidjan,Cote d’lvoire………..
Uganda Cranes will go into the 2026 FIFA World Cup Qualifiers draw faced with the desperation of qualification under the new format.
The 2026 tournament will be the first to be hosted by three countries with USA,Mexico,and Canada allstaging matches in 16 cities.
This will be the first competition featuring 48 countries.
CAF has been allocated nine guaranteed spots-up from five when the world cup finals had 32 countries.
There is yet another spot available for CAF but that will come via the inter confederatrion play-offs against one team from all other confederarions except UEFA.
In May,CAF executive committee announced a new qualification format that will have teams drawn into n ine groups of six teams to play on a home and away basis from november 13,2023 to october 14,2025.
The winners of each group will qualify for the World Cup.
Then with the four best ranked group runners up they will go into a play-off to determine the team to advance to the inter-confederation play-offs.
The 2026 qualifiers draw will be conducted on thursday,July 13 in Abidjan,Cote d’lvoire just after the 45th CAF Ordinary Assembly.
Uganda goes into the draw ranked outside the top nine countries on the continent leaving them at a risk of being grouped with any of Morocco,Senegal,Tunisia,Algeria,Egypt,Nigeria,Cameroon,Mali and Ivory Coast.
The second tier of countries has Burkina Faso,Ghana,South Africa,Cape Verde,DRC,Guinea,Zambia,Gabon and Equatorial Guinea.
Uganda has never qualified for the World Cup since its inception.
By Nimera Irene Tabu
