The Federation of International Football Associations (FIFA)Â has proposed nine slots for Africa in the 48-nation 2026 World Cup.
This was after the FIFA Council unanimously decided to expand the World Cup, starting with the 2026 edition, by sixteen teams from 32 to 48 on Thursday.
A Bureau of the FIFA Council that constitutes the president Gianni Infantino, newly elected CAF President Ahmad Ahmad and five other chiefs of confederations converged in Zurich and agreed on the allocations.
The recommendations are subject to approval by the FIFA Council in their next congress set for May 9, 2017, in Bahrain.
Africa had proposed to gun for ten or more slots. The new developments seemed to have undermined the position.
The Asian confederation has eight slots, six each for CONCACAF and CONMEBOL and one direct for Oceania. Europe will get a third of the allocations if the proposal goes through.
The direct allocations account for 46 places. The Bureau further proposed the inclusion of a six-team playoff to decide the last two FIFA World Cup berths.
According to the proposal, one team per confederation, except for UEFA, plus one additional team from the confederation of the host country, to play and find one.
The last slot will have two teams to be seeded based on the FIFA World Ranking.
The seeded teams will play for a FIFA World Cup berth against the winners of the first two knockout games involving the four unseeded teams.
The pre-tournament will be used to test the readiness of the host country.
