Confederation of African Football (CAF) President Patrice Motsepe has praised Africa’s outstanding performance at the FIFA World Cup 2026, saying years of investment in youth development, coaching, professional leagues, and football infrastructure are now delivering impressive results.
Nine of the 10 African teams that qualified for the expanded 48-team tournament have progressed to the World Cup Round of 32, marking Africa’s best-ever qualification rate at the global competition. Algeria, Cape Verde, Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Morocco, Senegal, and South Africa all secured places in the knockout stage, while Tunisia exited after losing all three group matches.
Speaking on Sunday, Motsepe said the success reflects the steady growth of African football through sustained investment and stronger governance.
“Hard work and investments in youth football, coaching, professional leagues and infrastructure in each of the 54 CAF member associations is bearing fruit,” he said.
“I congratulate the nine CAF member association presidents and their executive committees and thank the African governments for their co-operation and support.”
Motsepe also credited improved governance, transparency, financial management, and auditing standards for attracting new sponsors and strengthening African football across the continent.
“The governance, transparency, financial and auditing best practices that have been introduced attracted new sponsors and partners and (helped) develop and grow African football.
“CAF wishes the nine national teams everything of the best and we are confident they will continue to make their countries and Africa extremely proud.”
Africa achieved a remarkable 90 per cent qualification rate for the knockout stage, the highest among FIFA’s six continental confederations. South America followed with 83.33 per cent, while Europe recorded 81.25 per cent.
The continent has continued to build on the breakthrough made by Morocco at the 2022 FIFA World Cup, where the Atlas Lions became the first African nation to reach the semi-finals after eliminating Belgium, Spain, and Portugal before losing to France.
One of the biggest surprises at the FIFA World Cup 2026 has been Cape Verde, which reached the knockout stage after stunning Cameroon during qualification and earning draws against Spain, Uruguay, and Saudi Arabia to finish as runners-up in Group H.
Africa also benefited from FIFA’s expansion of the tournament from 32 to 48 teams, receiving nine automatic qualification places, while Democratic Republic of Congo secured the final African spot by defeating Jamaica in an intercontinental play-off.
