The senior national team of Nigeria will begin the quest to be at the 2026 World Cup in November in group C, where they will be hoping to make up for the disappointment of missing out on the 2022 edition which was hosted in Qatar.
With Africa having as many as nine slots at the next world cup, Nigeria will no doubt fancy their chances of picking one of the tickets. They went into the draws as one of the seeded teams, based on the last FIFA rankings which was used in picking the nine seeded teams.
For a spot in the 2026 edition, which will be hosted by Canada, Mexico and the United States of America, Super Eagles will need to navigate past five teams in their group which consists of Lesotho, Rwanda, Zimbabwe, Benin Republic and South Africa.
The draws means Nigeria will be up against the former coach of the team Gernot Rohr who is now at the helm at Benin Republic. He was unceremoniously dismissed by the former board of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) despite leading them to the play off as group leaders.
Nigeria eventually lost the play off to Ghana after a 1-1 draw in Abuja. Rohr dragged the NFF to FIFA over unfair dismissal and got compensation. This time around he could stand in between Nigeria and another world cup miss.
Perennial rivals South Africa will also be looking to cause an upset against the Nigerian team, which has no coach at the moment following the expiration of the contract of coach Jose Peseiro.
Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman
