Africa’s LA 2028 Qualifying Draw Set for April 29 in Cairo

Rabat – The road to the 2028 Summer Olympics women’s football tournament is about to start, and this edition comes with a real shift in scale.

The Confederation of African Football (CAF) will hold the draw tomorrow in Cairo, with the event streamed live on CAF TV from 15:00 local time (12:00 GMT).

A total of 35 national teams are taking part in this qualifying campaign: Algeria, Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Comoros, Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Morocco, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Seychelles, South Africa, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, Tunisia, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

The women’s Olympic tournament is expanding to 16 teams, which is new. The men’s side is actually being reduced to 12. On paper, that looks like more opportunity. In reality, Africa’s situation hasn’t changed much.

CAF still only gets two qualification spots. That means 35 teams fighting through five knockout rounds, home and away, with no margin for error. One bad tie ends the campaign.

What the global picture looks like

Some spots are already taken. The US women’s team is in automatically as hosts and defending champions. The Brazil team and Colombia team have already qualified through the 2025 Copa América Femenina.

That leaves 13 places still to be decided, split across the confederations: Europe gets 4 spots through the 2027 Nations League. North and Central America get 3 more via the 2026 W Championship. Asia has 2 direct places plus a playoff slot. Oceania gets one. Africa stays at two.

South America has one more chance through an intercontinental playoff, likely involving Argentina against a team from Asia.

The tournament will run from July 10 to 29 2028, starting even before the opening ceremony. It’s a senior competition on the women’s side, no age limits, unlike the men’s U-23 format.

Once teams qualify, it’s a standard structure. Group stage, then knockout rounds. 

The draw in Cairo sets the tone. It decides who faces whom early and who might meet later. So strong teams can eliminate each other before the final rounds even begin.

For strong teams like Nigeria, South Africa and Morocco, the goal is to avoid early clashes and build momentum.

Once the draw is done, the qualifiers move quickly. Early rounds are expected later in the year, followed by a long stretch of knockout ties.

It’s a demanding process. Travel, pressure, and very little room for mistakes. By the end, only two African teams will make it through to Los Angeles.

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