The 2026 World Cup witnessed a strong transformation of African football. When the group stage closed, up to 9 out of 10 representatives of the black continent qualified for the knockout round, setting an unprecedented milestone in the history of the tournament.
South Africa, Morocco, Senegal, Ivory Coast, DRC, Cabo Verde, Egypt, Algeria and Ghana all passed the group stage. Tunisia is the only representative to stop after 3 consecutive defeats against Sweden, Japan and the Netherlands.
At the 2022 World Cup, only Morocco and Senegal were representatives of Africa who passed the group stage, equaling the record that Nigeria and Algeria had set at the 2014 World Cup. By the 2026 World Cup, the number of African teams advancing has increased to nine.
Africa became the region with the second most representatives participating in the knockout round of the tournament with 9 teams, only behind Europe (13 teams). This is a special milestone if we look back at history, when it was not until the 1986 World Cup that Morocco became the first African team to pass the group stage. Even at the 2018 World Cup, the entire black continent did not have any representatives participating in the knockout round.
The real challenge is now just beginning when the African representatives have to face a series of formidable opponents. South Africa will face Canada, Morocco will face the Netherlands, Senegal will meet Belgium, DRC will compete with England, and Cabo Verde will try their hand against defending champion Argentina.
In the remaining matches, Ivory Coast will face Norway, Egypt will face Australia, Algeria will face Switzerland, while Ghana will compete with Colombia. These are all exciting matches and will be an accurate measure of the progress of African football.
