The four-team tournament will be staged in Morocco from October 13 to 16 with one qualification ticket up for grabs for Africa’s lone representative at next March’s intercontinental playoff series.
Cameroon will face Nigeria, Gabon and the Democratic Republic of Congo in the African zonal playoff series of the qualifiers to the 2026 FIFA World Cup. The four-team tournament will be staged in Morocco from October 13 to 16 with one qualification ticket up for grabs for Africa’s lone representative at next March’s intercontinental playoff series. Nigeria, Gabon and DR Congo confirmed their spots in the competition last Tuesday after finishing second in their respective pools at the end of the group stages of the African zonal qualifiers to next year’s showpiece scheduled for the United States of America, Canada and Mexico.
The sides joined the Indomitable Lions who had earlier on Monday, also missed out on a chance to win Group D and claim one of Africa’s nine automatic qualification tickets to the 2026 global showpiece. Cameroon missed out on the chance after the team was held to a goalless draw by Angola on Monday evening at the Ahmadou Ahidjo Stadium in Yaounde, in the final round of the African qualifiers.
Highly anticipated, the Indomitable Lions of coach Marc Brys struggled to break through a solid Angolan defense. Despite dominating much of the second half and creating several clear scoring opportunities, Cameroon failed to find the back of the net. With the result, Cameroon finished second in its group with 19 points, four points behind Cape Verde. Cabo Verde which has a population of just over 500 thousand persons, topped the standings and qualified for the 2026 and became the second smallest nation to ever reach the final phase of the World Cup.
Cameroon is chasing a nineth appearance in the final phase of the FIFA World Cup. The team will begin its campaign in the African playoff against Gabon before rounding it up against the winner of the match between Gabon and Nigeria. Per the format of the tournament, the event will be held in a knockout format featuring two semifinals and a final match.
The winner of the match will join five other nations in competing for two available tickets at the intercontinental playoff in March next year.
By Saju LINDA
