How African Teams Have Performed at the 2026 World Cup So Far

At the 2022 FIFA World Cup, Morocco made history as the first African country to reach the tournament’s semi-finals, knocking out Portugal in the quarter-finals. It was a historic moment for African football, and players from the continent are bolstered by Morocco’s exceptional performance in 2022 for the ongoing 2026 tournament. For the 2026 World Cup, more countries were accommodated, which allowed more African countries to qualify for the tournament.

For the first time in the tournament’s history, 10 African countries qualified for the World Cup. Ghana, Morocco, Cabo  Verde, Senegal, Tunisia, Algeria, Côte d’Ivoire, Egypt, DR Congo and South Africa, and each country has shown that they deserve to be competing in the tournament.

In the past, there were conversations around despite Africa producing players who perform excellently in Europe, the players have collectively failed to place their countries on the world’s biggest stages. A major factor responsible for this was the poor institutional structures of football federations in each country. However, in recent times, African countries have begun to understand the importance of world football, its benefits, and why they have to be present there.

So far at the 2026 FIFA World Cup, African countries have shown some exceptional performances, holding draws against teams with supposedly better squads and even beating some. Let’s look at how African teams have performed at the 2026 World Cup so far.

Reaching Knockout Stages

No stage at the FIFA World Cup is easy, but making it out of the group stages is always one of the most difficult stages at the World Cup. Previously, this is where most African teams drop out of the tournament. But at the 2026 FIFA World Cup, all qualified African teams, except Tunisia, have reached the…