Zambia Must Be One Of The Nine Or 10 African Countries At The 2026 FIFA World Cup

Africa will have nine slots with the possibility of increasing the tally to 10 at the 2026 FIFA World Cup to be co-hosted by the USA, Mexico & Canada.

There will be 48 teams, an adjustment from the current 32 that made it to Qatar this year.

Surely, it’s about time we see Chipolopolo colors at this big stage.

Of course, we are haunted by three missed opportunities to be at recent Africa Cup of Nations where 24 teams participate.

Many would ask, so what guarantee is there that we can qualify to a tournament that only has nine straight slots plus another one subject to a play-off with a team from another continent?

Well, we have to get better organized.

Those qualifiers will start in about 12 months and will run side by side with the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers.

The fact that we are yet to name the Israeli retiree or unveil him should be a source of concern.

It will take another year or so for the new coach to settle in and by the time he does, the qualifiers will already be knocking on our doors.

If the women can make it to the World Cup with Bruce Mwape as the volunteer coach, we certainly can make it to the World Cup with the men provided we put our house in order and set priorities for what we want to achieve.

Here is FIFA’s Allocation Of Slots For The 2026 World Cup Per Continent Is As Follows

UEFA: will raise the number of available tickets from 13 to 16.

CAF (Africa): nine direct tickets and half a ticket to be played via play-offs.

CAF (Asia): will have 8 direct tickets

Conmebol (South America): Six direct tickets and half a ticket to be played via Play-offs.

CONCACAF: Three direct tickets (in addition to the three for the hosts) and an additional half-quota via the Play-offs.

OFC (Oceania): For the first time in history, it will have one direct ticket and half an additional ticket via the Play-offs.

[Augustine Mukoka]