Libya's national football team has seen its chances of competing for a direct qualification spot to the 2026 World Cup decline after Cape Verde's victory over Cameroon with a score of 1-0 in the eighth round of the African qualifiers.

With this victory, Cape Verde strengthened its lead in the group with 19 points, while Cameroon sits in second place with 15 points, and the Libyan team is third with 14 points, despite winning against Eswatini 2-0.

Cape Verde now needs just one more win in its remaining two matches to secure a spot in the World Cup for the first time in its history, while both the Cameroonian and Libyan teams face a dilemma of complex calculations, as they still have a chance either for direct qualification or through the playoffs.

It is worth noting that the qualification system allows the best four teams finishing second in the nine groups to advance to the playoff round, where only one spot is allocated for the African continent in the global playoff, which includes teams from different continents.