Will the Tanzania national team make it to the World Cup?

Even the ardent supporters of the Tanzania national football team have to admit under the pressure of indisputable facts that the Stars of the Nation are not really shining at all. Their favorite team does not have great achievements – it only made it to the final stages of the African Cup of Nations three times, and always looked like an outsider there. As for the World Cup, the Tanzanians have no history of performances here – in their sixty-year history, they have never reached the final part of the World Cup.

The expansion of the number of participants to 48 teams, which will take place for the first time in 2026 (these changes have already been officially approved), gives fans from Tanzania additional hope. Africa will receive more representatives than ever at the World Cup – nine will go directly, and the tenth will play in an intercontinental play-off. In fact, it will be extremely difficult for the Tanzanians to enter the top ten most worthy African national teams, but it is already much easier than it was before, when only five were selected for the tournament.

If you want to support the Stars of the Nation by placing a bet on them, go to the list of betting companies in Tanzania. We will consider the selection rules, the current tournament position and the prospects of the Tanzanian national team.

Selection rules

The new format of African qualifiers formally consists of two rounds of selection, but for most teams, only the first phase really matters.

The so-called first round would be more correct to call the main selection grid. It lasts from November 2023 to October 2025. 54 African national teams (that is, everyone who could and wanted to participate in principle) were divided into nine groups, six teams in each. Ten rounds are matches against each of the competitors, at home and away.

The winners of the groups go directly to the World Cup – these are the nine direct tickets that Africa now has. However, there is still a tenth pass to the intercontinental playoffs – the fight for it will unfold in the second round, which is very lame and short-lived. The teams that took second place in the quartets will be able to get there, but not all, but only the top four. This four in November 2025, through two semi-finals and a final, will determine which of the “losers” will get the last chance to jump on the train that has almost left.

Thus, the first round will be the only one for fifty teams, and for the lucky ones it will end with an exit to the World Cup, and for almost all others – the end of the fight. The second stage is a backup option for only four national teams, which will get another – and rather illusory – chance.

The current situation in group E

Sextet E, to which the Stars of the Nation were drawn after the draw, was reduced to a quintet even before the start of the competition – Eritrea refused to participate without having played a single match. This simplified the calendar a little, but hardly reduced the competition, because no one thought to consider the Eritreans as candidates for tickets, even in the second stage.

As of now, Tanzania are in a very lowly fourth place, having collected 3 points from their opening two matches. At the same time, four teams have the same number of points, but only because of the odd number of participants, Morocco has only played one game (leading in losses), while Zambia and Niger are ahead of the Tanzanians only by the difference in goals scored and conceded. The role of the loser is played by the national team of Congo, whose passive is defeat in the only meeting held.

In November 2023, Tanzania on the road (and in fact – on the neutral Moroccan field) minimally beat Niger. After that, Morocco came to the Stars of the Nation – and easily won 2:0.

Expectation

Even despite the absence of Eritrea, the mini-tournament turns out to be quite long – there are eight matches to be played in the group, and the members of Quartet E have so far played 1-2 meetings each. This means that all the struggle is ahead, and the standings are not at all representative at the moment.

Tanzania had time to compete with two rivals, and if the defeat by Morocco is natural (Atlas lions are the most likely winner of the group), then the victory over Niger, and also away, can be considered a good achievement. In itself, a victory over such an opponent is not a huge success, but in the long run it brings the Tanzanians closer to finally eliminating one of their competitors.

The Moroccans look like a force that is unlikely to be dislodged from the top spot, and their failure to even make it to the top two would be a sensation for years to come. Tanzania should mentally prepare for the fact that neither victory nor draw shines on them in the away return match. From the point of view of the tournament, there are more hopes of reaching the playoffs, but for this you need to beat all other competitors, and do so confidently and without mishaps.

With Niger, half the work is done – it remains to repeat the same at home in September 2025. Zambia have mostly won head-to-head matches against the Tanzanians of late, but at the 2023 African Cup of Nations (the previous meeting) the teams played to a draw – at the very least, it is necessary to consolidate this success. The biggest mystery is the upcoming games against the Congo – these opponents have not met before, and in the FIFA ranking they are in the same top ten (the Congolese are in 112th place, Tanzania – in 119th).

Conclusion

If Tanzania were to suddenly win their group, it would be a huge sensation, and the local fans should not get their hopes up. In fact, even second place (as such, regardless of whether it will be possible to enter the top four) will already be considered a great achievement for a team that is not used to grabbing stars from the sky. However, such a result does not seem completely out of reach, and Tanzanian fans can only hope that their favorites finish behind Morocco, with enough points to reach the second stage, go through the semi-finals there and win the final, before winning the intercontinental play-off.

Difficult and unlikely? It is, but Tanzania believes that everything will work out.