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ZIMBABWE Warriors were last night drawn with continental heavyweights Nigeria in Group C of the 2026 World Cup finals for the Africa Region.

It was conducted in the Ivory Coast capital Abijan.

The finals will be held in Canada, Mexico and the United States of America.

The Warriors will renew their rivalry with neighbours South Africa after the two were thrown in the same pool.

Completing the group are Benin, Lesotho and Rwanda.

FIFA World Cup

This year 54 teams were drawn into nine groups and the winners will automatically qualify for the soccer showcase in three years time.

Africa who previously sent four teams were beneficiaries of a decision to increase participants to 48.

Zimbabwe who have been inactive due to suspension by FIFA following in-house problems between Zifa and the SRC may rue missed exposure chances when the qualifiers start.

The football motherbody was alleged to have ignored sexual abuse allegations on referees and financial impropriety by the country’s supreme body.

On Monday Fifa lifted the sanctions paving way for Zimbabwe to take part in the draw and qualifiers.

Warriors legend Agent Sawu described the group as difficult.

“It’s not an easy group considering that we have been out of international football for over 18 months,” said Sawu who was part of the Dream Team and the first Warriors side to participate in the Afcon finals in Tunisia in 2004.

In the period after suspension in February last year Zifa closed shop regarding national team activity, something that may bite the Warriors.

On Monday a normalisation committee headed by Lincoln Mutasa was announced.

Thrust in to put order and pave way for smooth elections, among their first tasks will be putting in place a technical team that is expected to football Zimbabwe first and be objective in player selection.

Lincoln-Mutasa

The National Sports Stadium is expected to have been repaired and made ready for Warriors use when the games resume in November 2023.

The draw
Group A: Egypt, Burkina Faso, Guinea-Bissau, Sierra Leone, Ethiopia’ Djibouti.
Group B: Senegal DR Congo, Mauritania,Togo, Sudan, South Sudan.
Group C: Nigeria, South Africa, Benin, Zimbabwe, Rwanda, Lesotho.
Group D: Cameroon, Cape Verde, Angola, Libya, eSwatini, Mauritius.
Group E: Morocco, Zambia, Congo, Tanzania, Niger, Eritrea.
Group F: Ivory Coast Gabon, Kenya, The Gambia, Burundi, Seychelles.
Group G: Algeria, Guinea, Uganda, Mozambique, Botswana, Somalia.
Group H: Tunisia, EQ Guinea, Namibia, Malawi, Liberia, Sao Tome And Principe.
Group I: Mali, Ghana, Madagascar, Central African Republic, Comoros, Chad.