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Rabat – The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has announced the new format for African nations wishing to qualify for the 2022 World Cup.
The format is different from that of the 2018 World Cup in Russia, but it is identical to that of the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
CAF has determined three phases for qualifying for the 2022 World Cup:
- The first phase is the preliminary round. The top 26 ranked FIFA teams will be exempted from this stage, leaving 28 national teams in contention for the qualification. Of the remaining 28 teams, the top 14 ranked FIFA teams will play against the lowest-ranked teams. During this first stage, the teams ranked lowest by FIFA will play at home.
- The second phase is the group stage where the 14 qualifying teams from the preliminary round will join the 26 exempt teams, forming teams. The 40 teams will be divided into 10 groups of 4 teams.
The 40 teams will be divided into 4 levels according to the FIFA rankings. Each of the 10 groups will include a team from each level.
- The third phase is the elimination phase in which the 10 group stage winners will be divided into 2 levels according to their FIFA rankings. The top five ranked teams will play against the top five ranked teams, with the lowest ranked teams playing at home.
In 2018, the CAF used a different system for World Cup qualification. The system consisted of two elimination phases and one group phase.
The group phase consisted of twenty teams divided into five groups.
The highest ranked team in each group qualified directly for the World Cup, namely Morocco, Nigeria, Tunisia, Senegal and Egypt.
The 2022 Qatar World Cup will be the last to feature 32 teams. Future World Cups will bring together 48 teams vying for the most prestigious title in football.
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