A team of African football legends have arrived in Ivory Coast for Africa’s 2026 FIFA World Cup draw which is set to take place in Abidjan on Thursday, July 13, 2023.

The team of African players include Asamoah Gyan, El-Alhadji Diouf, Emmanuel Adebayor, Jay Jay Okocha, and Anthony Baffoe among others.

The African legends are expected to light up the CAF Ordinary General Assembly and the draw for the 2026 FIFA World Cup draw for Africa.

Ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, CAF has established a new qualification format which will involve a total of nine groups of six teams in each.

The top nine teams who will emerge from each group will automatically qualify for the 2026 World Cup.

The four best second-placed teams from the groups will engage in playoffs. The winner of this playoff will then compete against a team from the CONCACAF zone for a chance to secure the tenth and final spot in the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

The best-ranked teams in Africa were seeded in Pot A and it includes; Nigeria, Morocco, Senegal, Algeria, Tunisia, Cameroon, Mali, Egypt and Ivory Coast.

Ghana was placed in Pot B alongside, Burkina Faso, South Africa, Cape Verde, DR Congo, Guinea, Zambia, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea

The top nine teams who will emerge from each group will automatically qualify for the 2026 World Cup.

The qualifiers are scheduled to take place over two years, from November 2023 to November 2025.

JNA/KPE