The preliminary round for African teams’ qualification for the 2022 World Cup has been conducted in Cairo this Monday.

The draw involved the 28 least ranked teams in Africa. The pairing runs thus:

Ethiopia vs Lesotho

Somalia vs Zimbabwe

Eritrea vs Namibia

Burundi vs Tanzania

Djibouti vs Eswatini

Botswana vs Malawi

Gambia vs Angola

Liberia vs Sierra Leone

Mauritius vs Mozambique

Sao Tome e Principe vs Guinea-Bissau

South Sudan vs Equatorial Guinea

Comoros Islands vs Togo

Chad vs Sudan

Seychelles vs Rwanda

The matches will played between 2 and 10 September. Those sides will battle it out in a home-and-away play-off round to book their ticket to the group stage.

The 14 winners will join the continent’s 26 top-ranked nations, including the Super Eagles of Nigeria, number 33 in the world and third in Africa. The 40 teams will then be split into 10 groups of four for the second qualifying round. The 10 winners of those groups will then be drawn against each other in home and away fixtures, with the five winners advancing to Qatar 2022.