The Road to World Cup 2026, Vol. 2

It’s the second international break of the young club season, so we’re continuing our tour around the continents to see who’s doing what in World Cup qualifying. This week we head over to the Confederation of African Football to see who’s on their way to North America next summer, plus:

• How the expansion of the tournament to 48 teams rights a historical wrong with respect to how many tickets African nations get every four years.

• The wonderful story of Cape Verde, population half a million, who are on the verge of qualifying for their first world cup.

• Why the continent’s traditional powers like Nigeria and Cameroon are struggling to qualify.

• Why the power base of the continent is moving north to Egypt, Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia, thanks in part to changes to FIFA rules and the North African diaspora in Europe.

• The controversy around South Africa’s qualifying campaign and why they are the most rapidly improving team on the continent.

Here to break it all down is Maher Mezahi, an African football journalist based in Algiers who hosts the African Five-a-Side podcast:

Get more sharp coverage of the world's game at TheFootballWeekend.com ↗️

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