The Confederation of African Football (CAF) confirmed the continent’s Qatar 2022 World Cup Qualification draw. Futaa looks at how it will work, the pot seeding, the match dates and qualification outlay.

What is it?

The process by which CAF’s 40 member associations will be reduced down to 10 teams, finally five nations for the 2022 final tournament in Qatar.

What it the period span?

Matches will be played over a year‚ starting in October (5-13) and November (9-17)‚ before a double-header in March (22-30) 2021. The penultimate round will be staged on August 30-September 7‚ 2021‚ and concluding on October 4-12‚ 2021.

How is the pot seeding?

• Pot 1: Algeria‚ Cameroon‚ Egypt‚ DR Congo‚ Ghana‚ Mali‚ Morocco‚ Senegal‚ Tunisia

• Pot 2: Benin‚ Burkina Faso‚ Cape Verde Islands‚ Congo‚ Côte d’Ivoire‚ Gabon‚ Guinea‚ South Africa‚ Uganda‚ Zambia


• Pot 3: Central African Republic‚ Guinea-Bissau‚ Kenya‚ Libya‚ Madagascar‚ Mauritania‚ Mozambique‚ Namibia‚ Niger‚ Zimbabwe

• Pot 4:‚ Angola‚ Djibouti‚ Equatorial Guinea‚ Ethiopia‚ Liberia‚ Malawi‚ Rwanda‚ Sudan‚ Tanzania‚ Togo.

How to successfully qualify?

Only the 10 group winners will then advance to home and away playoff in November 2021 which will decide the five African countries.

What are the dates?

Matchday 1: 25–27 March 2021

Matchday 2: 28–30 March 2021

Matchday 3: 4–5 June 20210

Matchday 4: 7–8 June 2021

Matchday 5: 2–4 September 2021

Matchday 6: 5–7 September 2021

Matchday 7: 7–9 October 2021

Matchday 8: 10–12 October 2021

Matchday 9: 11–13 November 2021

Matchday 10: 14–16 November 2021

Play-offs: 24, 25, 28, 29 March 2022.

When is the 2022 World Cup?

The 22nd finals will be, for the first World Cup not held in May, June, or July; the tournament is instead scheduled for a reduced time frame between 21 November to 18 December. The draw will be in April 2022.