The CAF Executive Committee ratified the changes at a meeting on Monday and the qualifiers will start in November this year, almost three years before the finals in Brazil. South Africa’s participation will start in June 2012 with the group stage qualifiers though. Fifty-two of the 53 national associations affiliated to CAF will enter the qualification series, which will begin with a preliminary round involving the bottom 24-ranked sides based on the Fifa World Rankings. These sides will be drawn in a two-legged tie that will be played on November 11 and November 15 this year, with the 12 teams to qualify from those matches to join the remaining 28 teams in the draw. The 40 sides will then be drawn into 10 groups of four sides and they will play on a home and away basis in a round-robin format that will last from June 2012 to September 2013. Only the 10 group winners will advance to the next stage and they will then be drawn in a two-legged tie that will determine Africa’s five representatives for the 2014 World Cup. Those ties will be played in October and November 2013, meaning the qualification process in its entirety is two years long, taking in 154 matches. As things stand, the 24 lowest-ranked sides on the African continent who would enter the first stage of qualification are Central African Republic, DR Congo, Sierra Leone, Congo, Rwanda, Kenya, Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, Guinea-Bissau, Madagascar, Namibia, Equatorial Guinea, Chad, Burundi, Swaziland, Liberia, Lesotho, Mauritania, Eritrea, Somalia, Comoros, Mauritius, Djibouti, Seychelles. 2014 FIFA WORLD CUP QUALIFICATION Stage 1 First Round for 24 bottom FIFA ranked teams 11/11/11 1st Leg 15/11/11 2nd Leg Stage 2 Group phase – 10 groups of 4 teams (12 teams from Stage 1 + 28 teams) 01-05/06/12 Match Day 1 08-12/06/12 Match Day 2 22-26/03/13 Match Day 3 07-11/06/13 Match Day 4 14-18/06/13 Match Day 5 06-10/09/13 Match Day 6 Stage 3 Play-off phase – 5 matches Home & Away 10 teams 11-15/10/13 1st Leg 15-19/11/13 2nd Leg

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