Africa will have at least seven teams in the knockout stage of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, marking the continent’s best showing at the tournament.
The nine nations through to the Round of 32 are Senegal, Cabo Verde, Ghana, South Africa, Morocco, Côte d’Ivoire, DR Congo, Algeria, and Egypt.
The milestone has been made possible by the expanded 48-team World Cup, which increased Africa’s allocation from five to nine teams and introduced a 32-team knockout stage.
Morocco, the first African nation to reach a World Cup semifinal in 2022, topped their group with seven points after beating Scotland and Haiti and drawing with Brazil.
Egypt also advanced unbeaten, defeating New Zealand before drawing with Belgium and Iran.
Côte d’Ivoire recovered from an opening defeat to Germany by beating Ecuador and Curaçao to book their place in the knockout stage.
Senegal bounced back from defeats to France and Norway with a commanding 5-0 win over Iraq to qualify.
Cabo Verde continued their impressive rise by drawing with Spain, Uruguay, and Saudi Arabia, earning enough points to progress.
South Africa recovered from an opening defeat to Mexico with a draw against Czechia before beating South Korea to seal qualification, while DR Congo and Algeria finished as one of the best third-placed teams.
Ghana became the latest African nation to advance after beating Panama and drawing 0-0 with England. Other results confirmed the Black Stars’ place in the Round of 32 before their final group match against Croatia.
The achievement highlights Africa’s growing strength on the global stage. Cameroon became the first African team to reach the World Cup quarterfinals in 1990, followed by Senegal in 2002 and Ghana in 2010. Morocco raised the bar in 2022 by becoming the continent’s first semifinalists.
With nine teams already through and two more still in contention, the 2026 tournament is already Africa’s most successful World Cup campaign in terms of knockout stage representation.
