Black Stars to know World Cup opponents in January

The Black Stars of Ghana will know its opponents for the 2022 World Cup Qualifiers on 21 January 2019 when the FIFA draw for the continent takes place in Cairo, Egypt.

The ceremony will take place in the Ritz Carlton hotel in Cairo with the CAF draw for the second round of the preliminary competition.

The ceremony will see the 14 winners of Round 1 join the 26 top-seeded African teams to form 10 groups of four (based on the December 2019 edition of the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking), with the 10 group winners then advancing to Round 3.

Ranked 47th in the World and 6th in Africa, the Black Stars together with Senegal (20), Tunisia (27), Nigeria (31), Algeria (35), Morocco (43), Egypt (51), Cameroon (53), Mali (56) and DR Congo (56) will be the top-seeded countries.

This means the Black Stars could potentially meet South Africa, Ivory Coast, Angola, Burkina Faso or Benin in a group.

The second round of Africa’s qualifiers will kick off in March 2020 and will conclude in October 2021. In Round 3, which is scheduled for November 2021, the 10 group winners from Round 2 will be paired up for knockout matches, with the five winners securing a berth at Qatar 2022.

The FIFA World Cup 2022 will be played in Qatar between 21 November and 18 December 2022.