DR Congo reach inter-confederation playoffs for 2026 World Cup after beating favourites Nigeria on penalties after a 1-1 draw.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo kept their hopes of a World Cup place alive as they edged Nigeria 4-3 on penalties after a 1-1 draw at the end of extra time to win the African qualifying playoffs in Morocco.
DR Congo now await the draw on Thursday for the inter-confederation playoffs in March, where six teams will chase two places at the 48-team finals.
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Captain Chancel Mbemba converted the decisive kick on Sunday after Congolese substitute goalkeeper Timothy Fayulu, brought on a minute before the shootout, made two saves.
Frank Onyeka had Nigeria ahead in the third minute, but Meschack Elia equalised for the two sides to be level 1-1 after extra time.
The mini-tournament in Rabat was for the best runners-up across the nine African qualifying groups, whose fixtures were completed last month with the nine winners automatically booking a berth at the World Cup in Canada, Mexico and the United States next year.
Nigeria, who have been to six previous World Cups, were off to a perfect start as the Congolese cleared an early cross but only onto the edge of their penalty area, where Onyeka snapped up the ball and powered home an effort, helped into the net by a slight deflection off Axel Tuanzebe.
But the Congolese could have been level within nine minutes had Ngal’ayel Mukau not put his close-in effort over the crossbar after Nigeria goalkeeper Stanley Nwabali had flapped at the ball.
They did equalise in the 32nd minute after Alex Iwobi had been stripped of possession inside the Congolese half, and a quick counter saw Cedric Bakambu square for Elia to score despite the efforts of Nigeria captain Wilfred Ndidi to intercept the ball.
A clever back-heel at a corner early in the second half from Bakambu saw Nwabali make a sharp stop, and there looked a decent penalty shout for the Congolese as Noah Sadiki was upended by Benjamin Fredrick in the Nigeria box in the 55th minute, but the referee did not show any interest, and there was no VAR check.
DR Congo looked more ambitious as the contest wore on, but it was characterised by a wary approach from both sides, keen not to make any mistakes with so much at stake.
Nigeria needed extra time to get past Gabon in their Thursday semifinal and looked much more fatigued than their opponents, who beat Cameroon inside 90 minutes in their semi later the same night.
There were two opportunities in extra time on either end, with Nigerian substitute Tolu Arokodare heading over, and then with the last effort of the game, Mbemba had his effort saved by Nwabali.
DR Congo went on to hold their nerve in the shootout and still have a chance to compete at their first World Cup since 1974, when the country was still known as Zaire.
Egypt, Senegal, South Africa, Ghana, Cape Verde, Morocco, Ivory Coast, Algeria and Tunisia have already qualified directly for the 2026 World Cup from Africa.
Bolivia from South America and New Caledonia from Oceania have already reached the six-team continental playoffs.
In Asia, United Arab Emirates host Iraq in their second leg on Tuesday to decide another playoff entrant. The first leg was 1-1.
Also included will be the best two group runners-up from the North American, Central American and Caribbean federations, once the final matches of the qualifying rounds end on Tuesday.
Europe has its own playoff system for the remaining non-automatic berths for the 48-team World Cup.
