Confederation of African Football (CAF) President Dr. Patrice Motsepe has praised the outstanding performance of African nations at the 2026 FIFA World Cup, describing the tournament as a landmark moment that highlights the continent’s growing influence and competitiveness on the global football stage.
In a statement released by CAF on Wednesday, Motsepe commended the 10 African countries that represented the continent at the expanded 48-team World Cup, noting that their performances reflected years of progress and investment in African football.
Africa achieved its best-ever qualification record at a FIFA World Cup, with nine of the 10 participating nations advancing from the group stage to the Round of 32. The representatives included Algeria, Cabo Verde, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Ghana, Morocco, Senegal, South Africa and Tunisia.
Although African teams made up just 20.8 per cent of the tournament’s participants, they accounted for 28.1 per cent of the nations that reached the knockout rounds, underlining the continent’s increasing competitiveness.
Motsepe paid special tribute to Morocco for reaching the FIFA World Cup quarter-finals for the second consecutive tournament, while also applauding Egypt’s Round of 16 finish. He further praised the performances of Cabo Verde, Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire, DR Congo, South Africa, Ghana and Tunisia for their impressive campaigns.
“Significant progress and successes were achieved by the African National Teams at the FIFA World Cup 2026, and I am very proud of their performances,” Motsepe said.
“The nine African National Teams that qualified from the Group Stage to the Round of 32 made history at the FIFA World Cup 2026, as this is 90 per cent of the African National Teams that participated, and is the highest percentage to qualify to date.”
While celebrating the achievements, the CAF president stressed that there is still room for improvement. He expressed confidence that African coaches, technical crews and players would build on the lessons from the tournament to achieve even greater success in future editions.
To sustain the momentum, Motsepe announced that CAF will organise a high-level technical conference involving national team coaches, technical experts, former players and key football stakeholders to evaluate Africa’s World Cup campaign and develop strategies ahead of the 2030 FIFA World Cup.
“CAF will be hosting a conference and will invite the National Team coaches, technical teams, former African National Team players and other football experts and stakeholders to evaluate and assess the performances of the African National Teams at the FIFA World Cup 2026, to make recommendations that will ensure that the African National Teams will be even more successful at the FIFA World Cup 2030,” he said.
He reaffirmed CAF’s commitment to investing in football development across the continent, including youth football, women’s football, domestic leagues and national teams in all 54 member associations.
“We will continue to train and invest in our boys and girls football players, amateur football, professional football leagues and our National Teams in each of the 54 African countries to make African football globally competitive and amongst the best in the world,” Motsepe added.