CAF / 54 nations deep

CAF is the Confédération Africaine de Football — Africa's soccer confederation, running the sport across 54 member countries, including the Africa Cup of Nations and Africa's World Cup qualifying. Think of it as one of FIFA's six regional conferences — the biggest by membership, and the sport's deepest emerging talent pool. Its clubs chase the CAF Champions League (Cairo's Al Ahly are the Yankees of this bracket); its nations chase AFCON, the January tournament famous for pulling Premier League stars away mid-season. From 2026, Africa sends nine-plus teams to the World Cup.