By MUHYIDEEN JIMOH

The Super Eagles of Nigeria will battle South Africa, Benin Republic, Zimbabwe, Rwanda and Lesotho in the Preliminary Round of Africa’s World Cup 2026 qualifiers.

The three-time African champions were drawn in group C at the draws held on Thursday in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire.

The 2026 FIFA World Cup is billed to be co-hosted by United States of America, Canada and Mexico.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the African zone is comprised of nine groups (A to I).

The nine groups will play in a home and away, round-robin, format with each of the group winners qualifying automatically for the 2026 World Cup.

The four best group runners-up will then compete in a play-off stage to complete CAF’s representative at the FIFA play-off tournament.

The winners will join five other teams in an inter-confederation tournament with two World Cup places up for grabs.

The full draws:

GROUP A

Egypt, Burkina Faso, Guinea Bissau, Sierra leone, Ethiopia, Djibouti.

GROUP B

Senegal, Congo DR, Mauritania, Togo, Sudan, South Sudan.

GROUP C

Nigeria, South Africa, Benin, Zimbabwe, Rwanda, Lesotho.

GROUP D

Cameroon, Cabo Verde, Angola, Libya, Eswatini, Mauritius.

GROUP E

Morocco, Zambia, Congo, Tanzania, Niger, Eritrea.

GROUP F

Cote d’Iviore, Gabon, Kenya, Gambia, Burundi, Seychelles.

GROUP G

Algeria, Guinea, Uganda, Mozambique, Botswana, Somalia.

GROUP H

Tunisia, E/Guinea, Namibia, Malawi, Liberia, Sao Tome.

GROUP I

Mali, Ghana, Madagascar, CAR, Comoros, Chad.

The qualifiers will kick-off in November, 2023. (NAN)

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