The Super Eagles of Nigeria will start their bid for a place at the 2026 FIFA World Cup in November after they were drawn in the same group with South Africa, Benin Republic, Zimbabwe, Rwanda and Lesotho.

The path to the FIFA World Cup for Africa’s 54 teams was laid out on Thursday in Côte d’Ivoire.

The nine groups will compete in a home-and-away round-robin format, with the group winners advancing to the FIFA World Cup 26 automatically.

The four best runners-up in each group will then participate in a play-off stage to select CAF’s representative at the FIFA play-off competition.

The FIFA play-off event will include one team from each of FIFA’s six confederations, with the exception of UEFA, as well as one team from the host confederation (Concacaf).

Nigeria, three-time continental champions, will play their first two games in the qualifiers between November 13-21.

In total, the Super Eagles will play ten matches in the group.

The group’s top team will win automatic qualification for the FIFA World Cup which will be hosted by the United States of America, Canada, and Mexico.

Nigeria did not qualify for the most recent World Cup, which was hosted by Qatar after the Eagles lost to Ghana.

Final schedule

Matchday 1,2 – Nov 13-21 2023

Matchday 3, 4 – June 3-11 2024

Matchday 5,6 – March 17-25 2025

Matchday 7, 8 – September 1-9 2025

Matchday 9,10 – October 6-14 2025

November 10-18 2025 (Playoffs).