The 20 CAF slots for the Russia 2018 World Cup group stage qualifiers have been filled with only Equatorial Guinea and Liberia missing out from the teams in the Africa top 20 on the FIFA rankings.
The usual suspects came good in the second leg matches despite not doing so well in the opening games with Algeria turning around their 2 – 2 draw in Tanzania with a smashing 7 – 0 win in the return leg.
When the qualification competition for Russia 2018 started, 53 African countries entered the race. 13 of them were eliminated in the first round, and a further 20 found their hopes of making it to the finals ended after the second round. That leaves 20 teams for whom the dream of a place at the finals continues.
The 20 teams will now be placed in five groups with the winner of each group proceeding to the World Cup finals.
The teams will be seeded according to the FIFA rankings and from the current standings, Zambia will can only avoid meeting Egypt, Nigeria, Mali and Uganda.
Kalusha Bwalya FAZ president –
We expect a tough draw after this. All of the teams left are good, which is why they have reached the group stage
CAF Group Stage Teams:
1. Ivory Coast 2. Algeria 3. Ghana 4. Cape Verde 5. Senegal 6. Tunisia 7. Cameroon 8. Congo 9. Guinea 10 Congo Dr 11. Egypt 12. Nigeria 13. Mali 14. Uganda 15. Zambia 16 Gabon 17. South Africa 18. Morocco 19. Burkina Faso 20. Libya