Uganda’s pursuit of featuring at the biggest football showpiece, the FIFA World Cup will not come easy.
The Uganda Cranes will have a 12th attempt after the draws for the 2026 FIFA World Cup were conducted on Thursday in Abidjan, Ivory Coast on the sidelines of the 45th CAF Congress.
The draw ceremony witnessed African football legends Emmanuel Eboue, Asamoah Gyan, Austin ‘Jay Jay’ Okocha, Emmanuel Adebayor, Wael Gomaa and Alexandre Song conducting the process.
Uganda was drawn into Group G alongside Algeria, Guinea, Mozambique, Botswana and Somalia.
It should be noted that Uganda and Algeria are in the same group for the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations Qualifiers.
The Desert Foxes beat Uganda home and away in the AFCON Qualifiers including the 2-1 result last month.
The qualification phase for the World Cup is expected to start in November this year.
A total of 54 African nations will take part in the Qualifiers and have been pooled into nine groups of six teams each.
The nine teams that will emerge as group leaders shall qualify for the 2026 edition.
The four best runners-up (from the Groups) will play in a CAF Play-Off tournament.
The winner of the CAF Play-Off Tournament will play in the FIFA Play-off Tournament to potentially be the 10th African nation.
It should be noted that the 2026 FIFA World Cup will feature 48 teams increasing from 38. This explains why Africa will also have more slots, moving from five.
