The Confederation of Africa Football (CAF) have released the format on how teams would qualify for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.
In a statement issued on Thursday, CAF stated that the rankings of teams would serve as one of the key elements to determine the fate of every country.
Recall that the 2022 World Cup will host 32 teams and it is expected that Africa will produce five representatives for the Mundial.
Interestingly, Nigeria and Cameroon are the only countries in Africa to have featured most at the World Cup. However, Senegal and Cameroon are the teams to have reached the quarter-final stages of the competition (1990 for the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon) and (2002 for the Teranga Lions of Senegal)
The tournament format will be as follows:
The 26 highest ranked teams (according to FIFA) will be exempted from the preliminary round. As for the remaining 28, the 14 highest ranked teams will face the 14 lowest.
Then the 14 winning teams will participate in the group stages alongside the 26 highest ranked teams in the continent. They will be divided into 10 groups of four teams.
Finally, each group leaders will face each other in the knockout stages, where the five highest ranked teams will face the remaining five.