By Enitan Abdultawab
The 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers are gradually wrapping up across all continents, and African countries are fiercely competing for their places on football’s biggest stage.
In Africa, a total of nine teams qualify automatically for the prestigious tournament. These teams must have finished first from their groups. Then, another team will join them, albeit after a series of play-off matches.
These play-off are played between four teams that finished strongly in second-place behind their group leader.
Hence, they are called best second-placed teams or best losers. They are usually determined by the total of points accumulated.
As it stands, there are a couple of teams that look like they might book a spot via the best losers’ spot. They currently have a strong position given their currents points and the quality of matches remaining to play.
This article examines five African countries that are strong contenders for the four available play-off spots, namely:
Gabon – Group F (19 points)
Gabon have really impressed in their chase on Ivory Coast who sit one point above them. However, Ivory Coast are flying high with their remaining two fixtures with bottom-table Seychelles and Kenya while Gabon face Gambia and Burundi. Gabon would just hope to hold unto their own and finish in second place, given that Ivory Coast do not look like dropping points.
Madagascar – Group I (16 points)
Madagascar might enjoy the poor quality from Comoros, Central African Republic, Mali, Chad – all whom sit below them to finish as one of the best losers. However, with Comoros chasing them, they have to beat Comoros in their next match and hope to finish well against Mali. Ghana, the group leaders, would learn from their past mistakes and might just hold unto their own against Central African Republic and Comoros.
Congo – Group B (16 points)
Congo will play Sudan and Togo, both whom sit directly below them. It is possible that they dispose these two nations in other to chase Senegal who sit first. However, they might eventually finish second place below Senegal whose two matches are relatively easy – an away game at South Sudan and a home match versus Mauritania.
Burkina Faso – Group A (15 points)
A whooping five points separate Egypt and Burkina Faso in first and second respectively. Burkina Faso will be looking to wrap things up and might finish second should they secure victories against Sierra Leone and Ethiopia while Egypt are poised to finish first with matches against Djibouti and Guinea Bissau.
South Africa – Group C (14 points)
Unfortunately, South Africa should already be looking to wrap things up as group leaders but they lost three points to FIFA punishment because they fielded an ineligible player when they played Lesotho. Now, they sit second in group C with 14 points, tied with Benin Republic with the same points. They play Zimbabwe and Rwanda next and will be hoping to qualify to play play-off amidst troubles that they face. They might benefit from the meeting between Nigeria (third) and Benin Republic (first) as one of these teams would drop points eventually.
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