The Uganda Cubs will have one last chance to qualify for the FIFA U-17 World Cup when they face Ghana in the TotalEnergies CAF U-17 Africa Cup of Nations Morocco 2026 play-offs on Saturday.
Uganda missed out on a place in the quarter-finals after the group stage, but the expanded World Cup qualification format has handed the Cubs another route to the global tournament. Africa has been allocated 10 slots at the FIFA U-17 World Cup, with the eight quarter-finalists already securing qualification.
That leaves Uganda, Ghana, Ethiopia and Mozambique battling for the remaining two places.
The Cubs will face Ghana at CMVI-T11 with kick-off scheduled for 20:00 local time. The winner will book a place at the FIFA U-17 World Cup.
Uganda head into the decisive fixture knowing victory would mark a major achievement after falling short of the knockout stages. The Cubs showed flashes of quality during the tournament and now have an opportunity to keep their World Cup dream alive in a winner-takes-all encounter.
Ghana also enter the play-off under pressure after narrowly missing out on the quarter-finals in Group D. The Black Starlets finished level on four points with Algeria, but lost out on qualification because of an inferior goal difference despite ending their campaign with a 3-1 victory over South Africa.
The play-offs are part of CAF’s expanded qualification pathway for the FIFA U-17 World Cup, giving teams that narrowly missed the quarter-finals another chance to reach the global stage.
Meanwhile, Ethiopia will face Mozambique in the other play-off match earlier on Saturday, with the winner also qualifying for the World Cup.
Morocco, Cameroon, Senegal, Mali, Côte d’Ivoire, Egypt, Tanzania and Algeria have already secured Africa’s other qualification spots after reaching the quarter-finals of the tournament.
