Africa would have nine representatives at World Cup 2026 as the number of teams playing in the final tournament goes up from 32 to 48.

Fifa recently made the decision for an expanded finals tournament and the expected breakdown of how many teams would qualify from each confederation has now been released by the world governing body.

UEFA, the European football confederation, would have sixteen (16) teams at the tourney, with Africa following with nine (9). Asia gets eight (8) teams, North, Central America and the Caribbean six (6), South America six (6), and the Oceania confederation one (1).

Africa’s nine slots are up from five, and would vastly improve the chances of certain countries making the final tournament for the first time. Whichever continent hosts the finals gets one slot taken away from them.

The Fifa Council gets to vote on the proposed breakdown on May 9 – to ratify it or otherwise.