90%: Africa has its best-ever progression into the World Cup knockouts

With the World Cup expanding in 2026 from 32 to 48 teams and allowing 10 African teams to participate instead of 5, there was already cause for celebration and optimism regarding the continent's chances of success. But the host nation's extremely stringent visa policies meant that African teams had to face an unusually high level of adversity off the pitch before the tournament even began.

The United States government announced in January 2026 that citizens from 50 countries, including five of the ten African participants at the World Cup (Algeria, Cabo Verde, Côte d'Ivoire, Senegal, and Tunisia), were required to pay bonds as high as $15,000 before being granted entry into the country to support their nations. The government cancelled this policy in May following external pressure, but it was a sign of things to come, as thousands of Africans, including the much-heralded Somali referee Omar Artan, were denied visas.

While African nations fancied their chances at the 2026 World Cup, supporters from continents such as Europe did not regard the Africans highly. They lamented the expansion of the World Cup from 32 to 48 teams, complaining about what they regarded as a dilution of the competition's quality. According to them, the World Cup was nothing more than "Euros + Brazil and Argentina." International managers such as then-Italy head coach Gennaro Gattuso shared their sentiments, stating that the inclusion of more African teams in the World Cup "created difficulties."

Africans may rightly feel aggrieved by the disparaging comments tinged by elements of Afro-scepticism. However, there are sporting reasons for others not to believe in the footballing prowess of Africa at the World Cup. Before 2026, African nations had taken part in 15 World Cups without ever making the final. Of those 15 campaigns, there have been only two in which more than one African team progressed to the knockouts in the same tournament (Algeria and Nigeria in 2014, and Morocco and Senegal in 2022). On average, only 19.3% (less than one in five) of African participants at a World Cup had progressed to the knockout stages. But records are there to be broken.

Of the 48 nations participating in the 2026 World Cup, Europe had the highest representation with 16 teams (33.3% of the total). Africa had the second highest with 10 (20.8%), followed closely by Asia with nine (18.8%). South America and North America both had six representatives at the tournament (12.5% each), and New Zealand was once again the sole Oceania nation at the World Cup (2.1%).

The numbers looked different by the end of the group stages, as Africa made history at the 2026 World Cup. The continent went from an average of less than 20% of representatives making the knockout stages of World Cups to an astonishing 90% in 2026, with Tunisia the only nation out of ten to be eliminated. No other continent had more, and South America was the only other continent with over 80% of its representatives staying in the tournament (5/6, 83.3%).

South Africa, Egypt, DR Congo, and Côte d'Ivoire all made history by making it past the group stage for the first time at a World Cup after multiple attempts, but the story of the tournament has been a Cabo Verde side that had never even played at a World Cup before 2026, yet finds itself in the knockout stages at its first attempt. Senegal and Morocco came into this World Cup as the two best sides in Africa following their controversial AFCON 2026 final, and both sides got the job done to progress to the knockout rounds, albeit in different fashion. Algeria and Ghana were perhaps less fancied than other African sides, as both nations have had a difficult period in football in recent years, but they both put in great performances to make this World Cup a memorable one for Africa.

With Africa having nine of the 32 teams at the World Cup Round of 32, this could easily be the year where even more positive records, such as the number of African teams at the quarterfinals or semifinals, are broken. And judging by the form the continent has shown so far, there is every reason to be optimistic. As Senegalese striker Nicolas Jackson stated: "We are killing ourselves for Africa."

World Cup Round of 32 fixtures for African nationsSouth Africa vs Canada – 28 June, 7pm GMTNetherlands vs Morocco – 30 June, 1am GMTCôte d'Ivoire vs Norway – 30 June, 5pm GMTEngland vs DR Congo – 1 July, 4pm GMTBelgium vs Senegal – 1 July, 8pm GMTSwitzerland vs Algeria – 3 July, 3am GMTAustralia vs Egypt – 3 July, 6pm GMTArgentina vs Cape Verde – 3 July, 10pm GMTColombia vs Ghana – 4 July, 1:30am GMT