The CAF will receive six spaces at the 2010 Finals, including South Africa, who qualify as the host nation. This leaves 53 nations competing for the remaining five spaces.
This was narrowed down to 48 teams with a preliminary qualifying round for the smaller nations in late 2007 and 12 groups of four teams were drawn. All group winners and the 8 best runners-up advance to the next stage of the qualifying, where they will compete in five groups of four, with the group winners qualifying for the 2010 World Cup Finals.
As a result of the vast number of games African countries have to play to qualify, the qualifying campaign will also serve to determine qualification for the 2010 African Nations Cup finals. For this reason, South Africa will also participate in the qualifying campaign, however their presence at the 2010 World Cup finals is assured, even if they fail during the qualifying process.
The African qualifying campaign is always very interesting. While the European and South American qualifying is normally fairly consistent and throws up few surprises, a large number of African countries including Togo, Tunisia, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Morocco, Senegal, Nigeria and South Africa have made it to the finals in recent years. With only 6 slots available, it is sure to be an interesting qualifying campaign.
2010 World Cup Qualifying Section - Africa