2026 FIFA World Cup qualification – CAF Group E
Association football competition in Africa
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification – CAF Group E was a CAF qualifying group for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. The group contained Morocco, Zambia, Congo, Tanzania and Niger.
Eritrea were drawn into the group but withdrew before the first matches were played.
Congo were suspended on 6 February 2025 due to government interference in Congolese Football Federation operations.[1][2] No announcement regarding their status was immediately available, and CAF initially cancelled their remaining matches.[3] However, Tanzania and Zambia were later awarded 3–0 victories by forfeit.[4] The suspension was lifted by FIFA on 14 May 2025.[5]
The group winners, Morocco, directly qualified for the World Cup. The group runners-up, Niger, were eliminated as one of the five worst runners-up.[6][7]
Standings
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |  |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Morocco |
8 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 22 | 2 | +20 | 24 | 2026 FIFA World Cup | — | 5–0 | 2–0 | 2–1 | 1–0 | ||
| 2 | Niger |
8 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 11 | 10 | +1 | 15 | 1–2 | — | 0–1 | 2–1 | 3–1 | |||
| 3 | Tanzania |
8 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 6 | 7 | −1 | 10 | 0–2 | 0–1 | — | 0–1 | 3–0[a] | |||
| 4 | Zambia |
8 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 10 | 10 | 0 | 9 | 0–2 | 0–1 | 0–1 | — | 4–2 | |||
| 5 | Congo[a] |
8 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 4 | 24 | −20 | 1 | 0–6 | 0–3[b] | 1–1 | 0–3[a] | — | |||
| 6 | Eritrea[c] |
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Withdrew | — |
- Congo were suspended on 6 February 2025 due to government interference in Congolese Football Federation operations.[1][2] No announcement regarding their status was immediately available, and CAF initially cancelled their remaining matches, [3] but Tanzania and Zambia were later awarded 3–0 victories by forfeit.[4] The suspension was lifted by FIFA on 14 May 2025.[5]
Matches
Goalscorers
There were 44 goals scored in 17 matches, for an average of 2.59 goals per match.
4 goals
3 goals
2 goals
1 goal
Déo Bassinga- Mons Bassouamina
- Silvère Ganvoula
- Dechan Moussavou
Nayef Aguerd- Eliesse Ben Seghir
- Brahim Díaz
- Bilal El Khannouss
- Soufiane Rahimi
- Chadi Riad
Victorien Adebayor- Boubacar Goumey
- Amadou Moutari
Charles M'Mombwa- Selemani Mwalimu
- Junior Waziri
Lameck Banda- Edward Chilufya
1 own goal
- Bakari Mwamnyeto (against Morocco)
Discipline
A player was automatically suspended for the next match for the following infractions:[12]
- Receiving a red card (red card suspensions could be extended for serious infractions)
- Receiving two yellow cards in two different matches (yellow card suspensions were carried forward to further qualification rounds, but not the finals or any other future international matches)
The following suspensions were served during the group stage:
| Team | Player | Infraction(s) | Suspended for match(es) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Morocco | Achraf Hakimi |  vs Tanzania (21 November 2023) vs Niger (21 March 2025) | vs Tanzania (25 March 2025) |
| Niger | Salifou Massoudi | vs Tanzania (18 November 2023) vs Zambia (21 November 2023) | vs Morocco (21 March 2025) |
| Abdoul Latif Djibril |  vs Morocco (5 September 2025) | vs Tanzania (9 September 2025) vs Congo (8 October 2025) | |
| Tanzania | Novatus Miroshi | vs Niger (18 November 2023) vs Morocco (21 November 2023) | vs Zambia (11 June 2024) |
| Zambia | Kings Kangwa | vs Morocco (7 June 2024) vs Tanzania (11 June 2024) | vs Morocco (8 September 2025) |
