With the group games at the ongoing 2026 FIFA World Cup tournament in USA, Canada and Mexico now done and dusted, African teams participating in the competition have shown that they are not at the summer global fiesta just to complete the numbers or participate but to also compete for the title.
Going into the Round of 32 matches, only one team, Tunisia out of the 10 African representatives have been eliminated after losing their three group games to Netherlands, Sweden and Japan. The remaining nine teams, Morocco, Ivory Coast, Algeria, DR Congo, Ghana, Egypt, South Africa, Cape Verde and Senegal all booked their places in the knockout stage which is unprecedented.
This is a huge leap for Africa which confirms the level of football advancement in the continent that has now narrowed the gap between African teams with their counterparts from Europe, Asia, Americas and Oceania. It’s a testament that with a little bit of better coaching, administrative and organisational know-how Africa can shock the world.
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Although an African team is yet to win the World cup since its inception in 1930, but Africa is etching closer by the day. Ghana and Senegal have both reached the quarter finals of the World cup, while Morocco’s Atlas Lions went all the way to the Semi final at the last tournament held in Qatar.
Can this be the year of an African renaissance? Can an African team reach the final this time and maybe even go ahead to win it? This is surely one question every African is eagerly awaiting the answer at the end of the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
Nigeria and Cameroon are among the football heavy weights in the continent that missed out at this year’s tournament and possibly may return at the next World cup to add more impetus to the African charge.
