Mohamed Salah scored twice as Egypt wrapped up qualification for the 2026 Fifa World Cup with one game to spare, while Ghana are on the brink of reaching the finals.

Egypt knew one win from the final two rounds of matches would be enough to secure top spot in Group A, and Hossam Hassan’s side eased to a 3-0 away victory over Djibouti in neutral Casablanca.

Ibrahim Adel nodded in Zizo’s cross to put the Pharaohs ahead in the eighth minute and Liverpool forward Salah latched on to Trezeguet’s through ball to stab in the second six minutes later.

Salah’s form for the Reds this season has come under scrutiny, but he remained in the thick of the action, curling over the bar and almost providing a third goal before the break as Mostafa Mohamed flicked his cross onto an upright.

The tempo of the game dropped in the second half but Salah made it 3-0 late on with a superb first-time lob inside the box.

The Pharaohs become the third African side to secure their World Cup ticket, joining fellow North Africans Morocco and Tunisia.

Egypt have won a record seven Africa Cup of Nations titles but have struggled to replicate their continental form in World Cup qualifying over the years – appearing at football’s greatest event on just three previous occasions, in 1934, 1990 and 2018.

Ghana defeated Central African Republic 5-0 to climb up to 22 points on top of Group I. The Black Stars need just a draw in their final game to leave Madagascar on 19 points the chance to be amongst the four runners up teams for the playoffs.

Elsewhere in African qualifying on Wednesday, Cape Verde missed their first chance to qualify for a maiden finalsdespite fighting back from two goals down to draw 3-3 in Libya.

Algeria can become the next nation to reach the expanded 48-team finals today if the Desert Foxes triumph away against Somalia in Group G.

RESULTS 

Eswatini 2-2 Angola

Ethiopia 1-0 G’Bissau

Libya 3-3 Cape Verde 

Mauritius 0-2 Cameroon

CAR 0-5 Ghana

Chad 0-2 Mali 

Comoros 1-2 Madagascar 

Djibouti 0-3 Egypt 

S’Leone 0-1 Burkina Faso

TODAY

Burundi v Kenya

Botswana v Uganda

Liberia v Namibia

Malawi v E’Guinea

Mo’bique v Guinea

Somalia v Algeria