African 2018 World Cup qualifying draw

Ghana have been handed a tricky group in the African zone of the 2018 Fifa World Cup third round qualifying draw held on Friday. Only Gabon and Libya are out of the top 20 ranked African teams on the Federation Internationale de Football Association ranking amongst the 20 teams left with a chance of qualifying. Every group will be contested in a round-robin, home and away format, with the five group winners advancing to the 2018 World Cup.

Algeria, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Senegal and Tunisia are in pot one; Cape Verde Islands, Egypt, Congo DR, Nigeria, and Mali are in Pot two, and pot three consists of Cameroon, Morocco, Guinea, South Africa, and Congo.

The world soccer governing body, FIFA, has not explained why they changed the seedings.

After Egypt protested its placement in Pot 2, Nigeria also fired a protest, stating categorically why she deserved to be in Pot 1 ahead of Egypt and Tunisia.

This ranking – 7th June 2016 – remains thus valid for the 3rd qualifying round draw.

The top side from each group qualify for the final tournament.

“The FIFA letter dated 5th April 2016 did not specify that the ranking would be calculated on 8th, 9th, or 10th June 2016 but that it would be released around those dates”.

“I have no doubt they will qualify the country to the next World Cup”.

Nigeria have played six times in a FIFA World Cup finals and reached the knockout stages on three occasions. Gabon struggled to get past Mozambique in the previous round of Russian Federation 2018 qualifying, and likewise Mali had to secure a 2-0 win in the second leg of a tie against Botswana to come from behind and reach the group stage.

“It’s a group of exciting young players who are hungry to make a name for themselves and in so doing, they will also make history for Nigeria”, he said.