



The Confederation of African Football (CAF) have announced the new format of the 2022 World Cup qualifiers.



The 2022 World Cup will take place in Qatar and it will be the last of its kind as it will host 32 countries, as starting 2026 the tournament will see the participation of 48 teams.



The tournament format will be as follows:



The 26 highest ranked teams (according to FIFA) will be exempted from the preliminary round. As for the remaining 28, the 14 highest ranked teams will face the 14 lowest.



Then the 14 winning teams will participate in the group stages alongside the 26 highest ranked teams in the continent. They will be divided into 10 groups of four teams.



Finally, each group leaders will face each other in the knockout stages, where the five highest ranked teams will face the remaining five.