The drawing pots for Thursday’s draw of the 2026 FIFA World Cup African Preliminaries Qualifiers have been revealed, with Bafana Bafana sitting in pot two.
The draw will be conducted on Thursday in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire at 15h00 GMT (18h00 Cairo time) – a few hours after the 45th CAF Ordinary Assembly will also be held in Abidjan.
The Confederation of African Football recently confirmed a change in format of the African World Cup qualifiers, changing it from three qualifying rounds, which resulted in five representatives, to one group stage, which includes all member associations of CAF. The 53 members will be divided in nine groups with the nine winners of the groups automatically securing qualification for the World Cup.
Meanwhile, the four best runners-up from the groups will play in a new CAF Play-Off tournament. The winner of the CAF Play-Off Tournament will play in the FIFA Play-off Tournament.
South Africa enter the draw in pot two after currently sitting in 12th position on the continent, with the latest FIFA ranking being taken as baseline for the draw.
As a consequence, Bafana will get one of the nine-highest ranked opponents from pot one, in what could potentially be a tricky group.
Hugo Broos’ men, though, cannot be drawn alongside the following teams, who have all been placed in pot two: Burkina Faso, Ghana, Cape Verde, DR Congo, Guinea, Zambia, Gabon and Equatorial Guinea.
Meanwhile, Zimbabwe will be included in the draw after their FIFA ban for government interference was lifted by the world football mother body.
Below are all six drawing pots:
