2026 World Cup Qualifiers: Rwanda placed in Pot 5
Monday, July 03, 2023
Amavubi players before the game in Benin. Amavubi found themselves in the same pot alongside neighbors Burundi, Comoros, Niger, Botswana, Sudan, Ethiopia, Eswatini and Liberia.

The drawing pots released by football governing body (FIFA) left Rwanda put in Pot 5 ahead of the final draw for the African zone of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers.

Amavubi found themselves in the same pot alongside neighbors Burundi, Comoros, Niger, Botswana, Sudan, Ethiopia, Eswatini and Liberia.

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Two countries from the same Pot cannot be in the same Group for the final qualifiers as there will be one team from each of the pots to form a group.

The final draw for the Group stages of the CAF region for the 2026 World Cup will be held in Zurich on July 12.

Despite AFCON 2023 group stage elimination after shock 2-0 defeat to Mozambique in Huye in June, Rwanda coach Carlos Alos Ferrer emphasized that one of his prime targets is to qualify Amavubi to the next World Cup as it looks possible with the continent guaranteed nine and a half slots.

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The qualifiers will start in November 2023 and it will span within a two-year period.

Below are the Africa Zone’s full drawing pots:

Pot 1: Nigeria, Morocco, Senegal, Algeria, Tunisia, Cameroon, Mali, Egypt, Ivory Coast

Pot 2: Ghana, Burkina Faso, South Africa, Cape Verde, DR Congo, Guinea, Zambia, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea

Pot 3: Angola, Benin, Kenya, Mauritania, Congo, Uganda, Madagascar, Guinea Bissau, Namibia.

Pot 4: Mozambique, Gambia, Sierra Leone, Togo, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Central African Republic, Malawi, Libya

Pot 5: Niger, Comoros, Sudan, Rwanda, Burundi, Ethiopia, Eswatini, Botswana, Liberia

Pot 6: Lesotho, South Sudan, Mauritius, Chad, Sao Tome, Djibouti, Seychelles, Eritrea, Somalia