A quick summary of action around the CAF preliminary round on TUE 15-WED 16 NOV 2011. Series aggregate results are shown below. more...

A suddenly competitive Botswana side, having just earned qualification to next year’s African Nations Cup, are to battle neighbours South Africa in CAF Group A on their route to the 2014 Men’s World Cup. Other CAF highlights include Morocco’s attempt to return to the world stage by taking on Côte d’Ivoire in Group C, and 2006 qualifiers Togo having to fight through a preliminary round series with Guinea-Bissau just to make it to CAF group I with Cameroon and Libya. The first placed team in each group must then fight one another in the playoffs for the five CAF places at Brazil 2014. more...

At the qualifying draw for Brazil 2014, the draw for the CAF preliminary round and group phase will be made. The 24 lowest ranked teams are assigned to Pots 5 and 6; each of the 12 preliminary round pairings will contain one team from each pot. Each series winner is assigned a slot in either Pot 3 or 4, behind the 28 teams that earned a bye into the group phase. The ten groups will each be assigned one team from each of the first four pots. Each group’s winner progresses to the playoffs that will decide the Men’s World Cup places; these will be drawn later. more...

The CAF qualifying format for the 2014 Men’s World Cup represents a break from recent tradition. The campaign begins with a preliminary round in which the 24 lowest ranked teams play off for 12 places in the group phase. Here, they join the 28 highest ranked teams to form ten groups of four teams each. In a new wrinkle, the group winners must then play off for the five places in Brazil. The 28 teams to receive byes into the group phase will be determined based on the FIFA world rankings for JUL 2011. more...