AFRICA’s DREAM FIFA WORLD CUP CONTINUES: As the continent’s representatives respond to cynics with commanding performances
“Africa does not deserve all these spots it is given in the World Cup. In the 1994 World Cup, there were only three African teams: Morocco, Nigeria and Cameroon.
Now, because of the increased number of African slots, even the second-place team in Europe does not qualify directly for the World Cup. This is not good.”
——Gennaro Gattuso said at the press conference on 31 March 2026 immediately after failing to qualify for the World Cup with Italy.
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The Group Stage of the 2026 World Cup is now over. From 48 teams, 32 remain in the competition while 16 head for home early.
For Africa, this is its best group stage outcome ever. Of the 10 teams that made it to the Mundial, 9 qualified for the knockout stage. That is a staggering 90% success rate.
In comparison, Europe managed only 81% as 3 of its 16 teams were eliminated. South America was closer at 83%, losing just one of its 6 representatives. Asia has only one out of its 9 representatives and Oceania (0%) make up the rest.
When juxtaposed with the 32-team World Cup of 2022 and 2018, the outcome for Africa even looks better. For those editions, Africa had only 5 representatives. In 2026, 9 African teams are in the top 32.
Before the tournament, there were snide comments from some parts of the world. They wondered why Africa got 10 slots when European powerhouses like Italy and Denmark could not get places. Africa’s performance in the Group Stage has emphatically provided them an answer to chew on. For there is no better justification for the increase in Africa’s slots than the fact that 9 of its 10 teams made it to the knockout stage.
Below is the detailed breakdown.
EUROPE: out of the 16 countries that represented them in this group stage, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, France, Sweden, England, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Portugal, Croatia, Spain, Austria and Switzerland managed to reach the knockout stage – 13 out of 16, which is 81% of their entry.
AFRICA: with 10 representatives has South Africa, Morocco, Ivory Coast, DR Congo, Senegal, Egypt, Cape Verde, Ghana and Algeria in the next round – which numbers to 90% of their entry.
Only Tunisia didn’t make it.
SOUTH AMERICA: out of the 6 countries Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Ecuador and Colombia managed to squeeze through – 83%, as the former World champions Uruguay were eliminated.
The 3 host countries from the North and Central American zone, Mexico, USA and Canada, of course rode on the back of home supports to go through while Japan is the only country out of the 9 that came from Asia to reach this crucial stage
Viva Africa!!
AUTHOR: Chris Adetayo. 28 June, 2026.
