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Revision as of 23:08, 14 October 2025
The CAF second round of the qualification tournament for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, also known as the CAF play-offs, will be contested by four teams from the CAF segment of qualifying. The best four runners-up from the CAF first round groups will participate in the play-offs, with the winner advancing to the inter-confederation play-offs. The second round will feature two single-leg semi-finals and one single-leg final, with all matches played in Morocco from 13 to 16 November 2025.
Format
The four best-ranked runners-up from the first round advanced to the second round. Teams will be seeded based on the FIFA Men’s World Ranking of 23 October 2025, with the first and second teams playing the fourth and third teams, respectively,[1][2] in a single-leg knockout round with the semi-finals on 13 November the final on 16 November 2025. All matches will be played in Morocco.[3] The winner of the final will advance to the inter-confederation play-offs in March 2026.
If scores are level at the end of regulation, 30 minutes of extra time will be played, where each team will be allowed a sixth substitution. If the scores remain tied, a penalty shoot-out will be used to determine the winner.[4]
Qualified teams
The four best runners-up from the nine CAF qualifying groups advanced to the second round. On 14 March 2025, CAF notified member associations that matches against the sixth-place team would be discounted when ranking the runners-up due to the withdrawal of Eritrea in Group E.[5] This information was not announced publicly by either CAF or FIFA.
Seeding
The FIFA Men’s World Rankings of 23 October 2025 (shown below in brackets) will be used to seed the teams, with the play-off teams ranked first and fourth in semi-final 1, and the teams ranked second and third in semi-final 2.
| Semi-final 1 | Semi-final 2 |
|---|---|
Bracket
Semi-finals
Final
The winner will advance to the inter-confederation play-offs.
Discipline
A player is automatically suspended for the next match for the following offences:[4]
- Receiving a red card (red card suspensions may be extended for serious offences)
- Receiving two yellow cards in two different qualifying matches (yellow card suspensions are not carried forward to the World Cup final tournament or any other future international matches)
