CAF President Dr. Patrice Motsepe has praised the performances of Africa’s national teams at the 2026 FIFA World Cup, describing the continent’s campaign as a historic milestone that highlights the growing strength and competitiveness of African football on the world stage.
In a statement published on CAF’s website on Wednesday, Motsepe congratulated the 10 African nations that featured in the expanded 48-team tournament.
The continent recorded its best-ever FIFA World Cup performance, with nine of its 10 representatives advancing from the group stage to the Round of 32 — the highest qualification rate for African teams in the competition’s history.
The African teams at the tournament were Algeria, Cabo Verde, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Ghana, Morocco, Senegal, South Africa and Tunisia.
Motsepe noted that although African teams made up 20.8 per cent of the tournament’s participants, they accounted for 28.1 per cent of the nations that reached the knockout rounds.
He singled out Morocco for reaching the FIFA World Cup quarter-finals for the second consecutive edition and also applauded Egypt for progressing to the Round of 16. He further commended the performances of Cabo Verde, Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire, DR Congo, South Africa, Ghana and Tunisia.
“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 said there are still areas that require improvement and expressed confidence that African teams can build on their success ahead of future World Cups.
“We have also identified specific areas where there is room for improvement, and I am confident that the coaches, technical teams and players will implement the necessary improvements. This will ensure even greater successes for African National Teams in future FIFA World Cups,” he said.
To sustain the momentum, Motsepe announced that CAF will organise a conference bringing together national team coaches, technical staff, former players, football experts and other stakeholders to review Africa’s performance at the 2026 World Cup and develop strategies for greater success at the 2030 tournament.
“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.
Motsepe added that CAF will continue investing in youth development, amateur football, professional leagues and national teams across all 54 member associations to strengthen African football’s global standing.
“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,” he said.
