JOHANNESBURG, South Africa – Zimbabwe must better South Africa, Ghana and Ethiopia for a place in the third round of the 2022 World Cup qualifiers, according to a draw conducted in Cairo, Egypt, on Tuesday night.
Forty teams were drawn into 10 groups of four teams each.
Winners of each group will qualify to the third round where they will be drawn into five home-and-away ties.
The winners of each tie will qualify for the World Cup.
The group phase starts in March 2020, during the first international break of the year, and ends in October 2021.
Zimbabwe, who are without a coach and have never qualified for the World Cup finals, must navigate past South Africa, Ghana and the Ethiopians for a place in the second round after being drawn in Group G.
Cameroon and Ivory Coast were drawn together in Group D, which means that only one of those countries can progress past the group phase.
African champions Algeria were drawn into Group B with Burkina Faso, Niger and Djibouti.
Qatar are the hosts of the 2022 World Cup finals.
Full Africa Draw:
Group A: Algeria, Burkina Faso, Niger, Djibouti
Group B: Tunisia, Zambia, Mauritania, Equatorial Guinea
Group C: Nigeria, Cape Verde, Central Africa, Liberia
Group D: Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, Mozambique, Malawi
Group E: Mali, Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda
Group F: Egypt, Gabon, Libya, Angola
Group G: Ghana, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Ethiopia
Group H: Senegal, Congo, Namibia, Togo
Group I: Morocco, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Sudan
Group J: DR Congo, Benin, Madagascar, Tanzania
