Iraq and the United Arab Emirates will rekindle their World Cup ambitions this week when they clash in a two-legged Asian Confederation playoff that will determine who advances to the intercontinental play-off for the final berth at the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

The first leg takes place on Thursday in Abu Dhabi, with the return match scheduled for Basra, Iraq, four days later.

The aggregate winner will move on to the intercontinental playoff — the final hurdle to secure the 48th and last qualification slot for the expanded tournament in the United States, Mexico, and Canada.

Both sides enter the tie still nursing the disappointment of missing automatic qualification. Iraq narrowly lost out to Saudi Arabia last month, denying them a return to the World Cup for the first time since their sole appearance in 1986.

The UAE, who last graced the global stage in 1990, saw their hopes dashed by Qatar in the earlier qualifying phase.

Iraq will rely heavily on the experience of coach Graham Arnold, the Australian tactician who guided his home nation through a similar play-off route to reach the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

“We’re doing everything we possibly can for Iraq to make sure we qualify,” Arnold said while unveiling his squad last week. His team has been boosted by the return of talismanic striker Aymen Hussein from injury.

“I know a lot of fans and media were disappointed after the Saudi game, but I was proud of the players’ work ethic,” Arnold added. “Defensively we were excellent — we didn’t concede against Saudi Arabia or Indonesia — but we must improve in front of goal.”

Indeed, Iraq’s goal-scoring record remains a concern, with only two goals in four matches since Arnold took charge in May. The UAE, under Romanian coach Cosmin Olaroiu, have been slightly more productive, scoring four times in their last four fixtures after replacing Paulo Bento.

For both nations, the stakes could not be higher. Victory over the two legs will keep their World Cup dream alive — defeat will bring it to an end for another four years.

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The old, but familiar disruptive tendencies have again crept up as Nigeria’s World Cup play-off preparations have been hit by boycott of training.

It was in similar pattern that the Super Eagles eventually crashed out at the Round of 16 at the 2014 World Cup ahead of their duel with France.

A repetition has unfolded as the team on Tuesday had its programmes thrown into disarray as players and officials of the Super Eagles boycotted their scheduled training session in Rabat, Morocco, on Tuesday.

According to BBC Africa Sport journalist Oluwashina Okeleji, the players, coaches, and backroom staff refused to train in protest over unpaid allowances and bonuses owed by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF).

The protest reportedly involves payments outstanding from both World Cup and Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifying matches, with the arrears covering as many as 30 matches.

In a post on social media, Okeleji wrote:

“None of the Super Eagles players has received their allocated allowances or bonus for reaching the 2025 AFCON and 2026 World Cup playoff.
Nigeria players & staff boycott Tuesday training ahead of Thursday’s game vs Gabon.
Tired of empty promises.”

As of press time, 23 players were already in camp in Rabat, but training grounds remained deserted throughout the afternoon session.

Officials of the NFF have yet to comment on the development. Repeated calls to the Federation’s spokesperson, Ademola Olajire, and other team officials went unanswered.

The standoff comes just two days before Nigeria’s high-stakes playoff against Gabon — a match critical to the Super Eagles’ hopes of reaching the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

This latest episode adds to a long history of bonus-related disputes between Nigerian footballers and the federation, often resurfacing during key international assignments.

Whether the issue will be resolved before Thursday’s fixture remains unclear, but the boycott has cast a shadow over the team’s focus and morale ahead of the decisive encounter in Rabat.

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Guest Writer, Ademola Olajire

Nigeria and Gabon senior men national teams go to war on Thursday evening in a 2026 FIFA World Cup African playoff semi-final that promises to raise the roof of the Complexe Sportif Prince Heritier Moulay Al Hassan in Rabat.

The high-stakes encounter, which provides a second window for both teams to try and qualify for the 2026 finals in the USA, Canada and Mexico after missing automatic tickets in Africa’s 23-month qualifying campaign, will see both Coaches Eric Chelle and Thierry Mouyouma throw in their best casts to ensure passage into the Final match, which will set up the victor against the winner of the other semi-final between Cameroon and the Democratic Republic of Congo, at the same venue on Sunday.

Nigeria, six-time finalists at the FIFA World Cup, have assumed a body language of unwillingness to witness a second consecutive FIFA World Cup finals miss, which would mean no experience at the highest level for the spine of the current team, while Gabon, who have never dined at football’s highest table, are eager to experience what it all means.

Current Africa’s best player Ademola Lookman, suspended for the last game of the qualifying series against Bénin Republic, is eager to return to action.

The ingredients for a fiery evening in Morocco’s administrative capital is complete, with both Chelle and Mouyouma likely to adopt the 4-3-3 formation to play to the strengths of their lead orchestrators.

Chelle, unbeaten in four competitive matches with Nigeria in the qualifying campaign (three wins and a draw), will most likely stick with goalkeeper Stanley Nwabali, and in the absence of injured Olaoluwa Aina (injury) and Semi Ajayi (suspension), probably calibrate a rearguard of Benjamin Fredericks, captain William Ekong, Calvin Bassey and Zaidu Sanusi, with Wilfred Ndidi, Alex Iwobi and Frank Onyeka in midfield.

2023 Africa Player of the Year Victor Osimhen, who netted six goals in the qualifying series (all against three teams viz Rwanda, Zimbabwe and Benin Republic), is likely to have Samuel Chukwueze and Ademola Lookman as partners from the off.

The rampant Osimhen, with 29 goals in 44 matches for the Nigeria senior team, has netted 160 goals and 36 assists in 275 club career matches, and is presently one of the most feared forwards in world football.   

Gabon emerged the best second runners-up in all the nine qualification groups, and hinge their hopes of an upset on 36-year- old forward Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who has turned out for English Premiership side Arsenal and German Bundesliga top team Borussia Dortmund, and is now with former European champions Olympique Marseille in France.

The brilliant forward’s father, Pierre-François Aubameyang, featured for the Panthers at the 1994 Africa Cup of Nations in Tunisia, in which the Panthers lost their first match 0-3 to Nigeria and crashed out at group stage, as the Eagles went on to win their second continental title.

Mouyouma is likely to stick to his regular army, which puts Loyce Mbaba in goal, with youngster Jacques Ekomie alongside Bruno Manga, Mick Omfia and Anthony Oyono at the rear, and Guélor Kanga, Mario Lemina and Didier Ndong in midfield.

Aubameyang, who scored all four goals in the dismantling of The Gambia away in the qualifying series, will have regular partners Denis Bouanga and Noah Lemina as co-conspirators at the fore.

Mouyouma has revealed that his Panthers are contemplating the quick, short passing game to force Nigeria’s matadors to chase the game, while Chelle has kept his option to his chest as the fiery encounter looms.

Nigeria have been victorious in five of nine previous encounters with Gabon at senior men level, dating back 60 years, when Nigeria won and drew friendly matches played over two days in Libreville. Gabon’s only triumph – a 2-1 win in a World Cup qualifier on 25^th June 1989 – ultimately cost Nigeria a ticket to Italia ’90 as the Eagles failed to secure the draw needed against Cameroon’s Indomitable Lions in Yaounde on the final day of the series.

Three of the nine matches have been drawn, including a Germany 2006 World Cup qualifier, but Thursday’s game cannot end in a draw, as a winner must emerge to proceed to Sunday’s Final.  

SUPER EAGLES, PANTHERS IN HISTORY

28 Aug 1965: Gabon 2-2 Nigeria (Friendly)

29 Aug 1965: Gabon 1-4 Nigeria (Friendly)

02 Mar 1983: Gabon 0-0 Nigeria (Friendly)

07 Jan 1989:  Nigeria 1-0 Gabon (WC qualifier)

25 June 1989: Gabon 2-1 Nigeria (WC qualifier)

26 Mar 1994: Nigeria 3-0 Gabon (AFCON finals)

21 Nov 1999: Gabon 0-2 Nigeria (Friendly)

09 Oct 2004: Gabon 1-1 Nigeria (WC qualifier)

26 Mar 2005: Nigeria 2-0 Gabon (WC qualifier)