Zambia has benefited from its a favourable ranking on the FIFA ranking to earn an exemption from the first round of the Russia 2018 World Cup qualifiers according to an announcement made by the Confederations of African Football CAF.
With Zimbabwe having been expelled from the preliminary competition by the FIFA Disciplinary Committee, Africa sees 53 of its 54 member associations involved in the Preliminary Draw on Saturday, 25 July 2015 in St. Petersburg, Russia.
First Round
The 26 lowest-ranked participating associations from the region will contest Round One. Those teams will be allocated to two pots of 13 teams based on the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking of July 2015; the 13 highest ranked teams and the 13 lowest ranked teams. They will then be drawn against each other to play over two legs on a home and away basis between 5 and 13 October 2015.
Pot 1 (13 highest ranked teams)
Niger, Ethiopia, Malawi, Sierra Leone, Namibia, Kenya, Botswana, Madagascar, Mauritania, Burundi, Lesotho, Guinea Bissau, Swaziland
Pot 2 (13 lowest ranked teams)
Tanzania, Gambia, Liberia, Central African Republic, Chad, Mauritius, Seychelles, Comoros, Sao Tome and Principe, South Sudan, Eritrea, Somalia, Djibouti
Second Round
The winners of the First Round advance to Round Two, where they will join the remaining 27 highest-ranked teams and face off in a two-legged play off, home and away.
Top ranked 27 teams
Algeria, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Tunisia, Senegal, Cameroon, Congo, Cape Verde, Egypt, Nigeria, Guinea, Congo, Mali, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, South Africa, Zambia, Burkina Faso, Uganda, Rwanda, Togo , Morocco, Sudan, Angola, Mozambique, Benin, Libya
Third round
The winners of the Second Round will move into the Third Round, where five groups of four teams will meet both home and away. The winner of each group will qualify for Russia 2018.
For those who want to know lubambo musonda has signed for Grandzasar Kapan in Armenia and he scored a goal in a pre-season friendly against a Greek team.
This qualification format is very easy.
Fellow bloggers how competitive is football in Armenia?
Ask John
Sunzu is joining lille this week. He is travelling to France tomorrow. My sources tell me
john, the data-man. Continue with your update bro.
Thanks for the info John!
Which sources just give us the site boss.
The current U23 team requires gud technic it can take us to Russia.
These days its to’ Wait and See’ like late Dennis Liwewe. These Zed teams r full of disappointments and make it difficult 2 predict wins unless draws or loses.
Yes I can confirm sunzu all terms have been agreed for a loan deal
Nice one
Is there no news on Kalaba?
Kalaba is a very stubborn boy. What is it that he wants in drc? He is wasting an opportunity to rub shoulders with big players in world football. Imagine kalaba rubbing shoulders with the PSG and Monaco players. He better move to lille.
Zambia has struggled to qualify to the WC in recent years. The key to the worldcup qualifier is to prepare a team adequately and have quality players. Consistency has been a huge problem in our team. Can Zambia top the group with teams like, Ivory Coast,Cameron, and Uganda in the same group with the current crop of players??? Kaya
zambia can top that group when it can even fail to beat Namibia
I mean can’t
Test 1
we need an expertrate coach 2 take us 2 the 2018 fifa world cup.
we hv players who can take us to 2018 fifa world cup but we dont hv a coach. if we will mentain lwandamina zambia wil not qualify to de world cup
we hv players who can take us to 2018 fifa world cup but we dont hv a coach. if we are going 2 mentain lwandamina zambia wil not qualify to de world cup
lwandamina cost us 2 points at home against Guinea bissau & playing penalties against minows Namibia to qualify 2 the next round of 2016 chan championship in Rwanda
Expatriate coach please! What’s going on?
Its too late for us to qualify for Russia. Our team is in disarray. 1. Our clubs are not playing in Africa’s continental championships because of poor coaching and a weak local league. 2. Our national team does not yet have a settled and experienced coach. Our foreign based players have become bit-part players for their teams.
spot on
I Agree With Papa, But We Can Restore Our Performance By Engenging An An Expertrate Coach, Not Our Local Coaches Who Likes Experiments In Crucial Matches By Starting With The Developmental Side & Leaving Experience Players On The Bench Like Chisamba, Fwayo, Lubambo Musonda, Mayuka & Not Calling Jocob Mulenga, Rodger Kola & The Bringing Back Of Chris Katongo In A National Team.
CAF exempted the Chipolopolo from the first round because it’s one of the continent’s top ranked teams. It is a clear demonstration that the Chipolopolo is a force to reckon with in Africa.