The Super Eagles will on January 22 or 26, 2022, know who stands between them and the 2022 World Cup in Qatar as that will be when the draw for the final playoffs will be staged during the delayed 2021 AFCON in Cameroon.
CAF announced these dates and also said the playoffs will be played on home and away basis between March 21 and 29 with the five seeded teams based on the December 2021 FIFA Rankings playing the first leg at away.
This announcement has thus laid to rest speculations of one knockout game involving the 10 qualified group winners to be played in a neutral venue with Qatar suggested.
The next FIFA Rankings will be released on December 16, 2021.
By the latest FIFA Rankings, the Eagles as well as Senegal, Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria are the seeded teams.
The Eagles are the only team from these five who could be overtaken by the next rankings.
Ghana, Egypt, DR Congo, Mali and Cameroon are thus far not seeded.
The overall winners of the playoffs will advance to the 2022 World Cup, which begins on November 21, 2022, in Doha, Qatar.
