According to the FIFA official website, the group stage draw,
which will involve 20 African teams, will be held in Cairo on 24 June 2016.
The 20 teams will be drawn into five four-team groups with teams playing home and away matches. Group leaders qualify
automatically for the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
Teams will be seeded into four pots according to their FIFA
rankings. Egypt now hold the 11th position in Africa, which
puts them in pot three. Rankings, however, can change when
Nigeria play matches before the draw in June.
FIFA have announced on Thursday that the group stage
qualifier matches will start on 3 October 2016 and finish by
6 November 2017.
Nigeria qualified for the third and final round of World Cup
qualifications after beating Swaziland 2-0 on aggregate in
Port-Harcourt on Tuesday.
