Online Reporter
Fungai Muderere-Zimpapers Sports Hub
THE road to Africa’s premier men’s five-a-side tournament is officially open after the draw for the TotalEnergies CAF Futsal Africa Cup of Nations Morocco 2026 Qualifiers was conducted in Rabat, Morocco on Wednesday.
A total of 18 national teams will engage in the qualifying competition, which will be played over two home and away knockout rounds, with seven teams qualifying for the final tournament, in addition to host nation and defending champions Morocco.
The teams taking part in the qualifiers are Algeria, Angola, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Cote d’Ivoire, Egypt, Libya, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Senegal, South Sudan, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
‘We are happy that as Futsal Zimbabwe, it is for the first time that we have been granted permission to go and represent the country at a big stage,” said Futsal National League president Philani Banda.
“As we speak, we are busy running around trying to prepare for our qualification campaign. It’s a pleasing thing but a challenging development. We will need to really work hard and go out there and really compete. The first leg matches will be played on January 23, and the second leg will be played on January 28,” added Banda.
With regards to the qualification format, it was revealed the qualifiers will be played in two rounds.
In the first round, eight teams will compete, while 10 teams received byes.
In the second round, the four winners from the first round will join the 10 exempted teams to contest for seven places at the final tournament.
All ties will be played over two legs, home and away, with aggregate scores determining the winners.
Zimbabwe were drawn against Tanzania in the preliminary round. If they manage to beat Tanzania Zimbabwe will proceed to meet Cote d’Ivoire.
The Fifa Futsal Men’s World Ranking was used to determine team positions and exemptions for the draw.
The eight lowest ranked teams, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Kenya, Namibia, Senegal, South Sudan, Tanzania and Zimbabwe, were placed into two pots and drawn in pairs to form four fixtures.
Ten teams have directly qualified for the second round are Algeria, Angola, Cote d’Ivoire, Egypt, Libya, Ghana, Guinea, Mauritania, Mozambique and Zambia, alongside the four First Round winners.
Based on the Fifa rankings, Egypt, Libya, Angola and Cote d’Ivoire are the four highest ranked teams and will be drawn to face the winners of the first round. In these ties, the higher ranked team will play host to the second leg.
CAF Fustsal Africa Cup of Nations draw in full:
Cape Verde v Senegal
Egypt v Namibia
Kenya v Libya
Cameroon v South Sudan
Angola v Zimbabwe
Tanzania v Cote d’Ivoire
Ghana v Zambia
Mauritania v Mozambique
Guinea v Algeria.
derick.khumalo