Road to Russia 2018 mapped out for African hopefuls

The last remaining steps for Africa’s 2018 FIFA World Cup contenders have been laid out after the draw for the continent’s third round of Russia 2018 qualifiers took place in Egypt.

The event, held at CAF’s Cairo headquarters, threw up some mouth-watering heavyweight clashes, with Zambia, Cameroon, Algeria and Nigeria drawn together in Group B tagged as the ‘Group of Death’, and Group C pairing Gabon, Mali, Ivory Coast and Morocco.

Morocco coach Herve Renard will face Ivory Coast, who he led to the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations title, in qualification for the 2018 World Cup.

Neighbours Libya and Tunisia were paired in Group A alongside DR Congo and Guinea.

All Groups for the World Cup qualifiers. #Africa #AFWCQ #RUSSIA2018 pic.twitter.com/6jw10XFsOz

— Juliet Bawuah (@julietbawuah) June 24, 2016

This is the decisive stage of an African Zone preliminary competition that began last October, with the 20 teams still in contention having been drawn into five four-team groups.

They will now play each other home and away on a round-robin basis, with all five group winners qualifying automatically for Russia 2018. Matches will take place between October 2016 and November 2017.

Draw results

Group A: Tunisia, Libya, DR Congo, Guinea

Group B: Zambia, Cameroon, Algeria, Nigeria

Group C: Gabon, Mali, Ivory Coast, Morocco

Group D: Senegal, South Africa, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde

Group E: Ghana, Congo, Egypt, Uganda

FIFA.com