CAF PRESIDENT HAILS AFRICA’S HISTORIC FIFA WORLD CUP 2026 PERFORMANCE
Read Time:2 Minute, 41 Second
By; Sunmola Ganiyat
Confederation of African Football (CAF) President, Dr. Patrice Motsepe, has applauded the performances of Africa’s national teams at the FIFA World Cup 2026, describing the continent’s campaign as a historic milestone and further proof of the steady growth of African football.
In a statement released on Wednesday, Motsepe commended the 10 African countries that represented the continent at the expanded 48-team tournament, noting that nine teams progressed from the group stage to the Round of 32, the highest qualification rate ever achieved by African nations at a FIFA World Cup.
The African representatives were Algeria, Cabo Verde, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Ghana, Morocco, Senegal, South Africa and Tunisia.
According to the CAF president, while Africa accounted for 20.8 per cent of participating teams, it produced 28.1 per cent of the nations that reached the knockout stage.
Motsepe singled out Morocco for reaching the quarter-finals for the second consecutive FIFA World Cup and also praised Egypt for advancing to the Round of 16, alongside the impressive 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.
“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,” Motsepe said.
He noted that CAF had already identified areas requiring improvement and expressed confidence that coaches, technical teams and players would implement necessary changes ahead of future tournaments.
To consolidate the gains, Motsepe announced that CAF would organise a conference involving 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 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.
The CAF president also reaffirmed the organisation’s commitment to investing in youth football, coaching education, domestic leagues and national teams across all 54 member associations to make African football globally competitive.
He stressed the need for every CAF member nation to have stadiums that meet CAF and FIFA standards, insisting that national teams and clubs should be able to play their home matches before their supporters.
Expressing optimism about the future, Motsepe said CAF remains confident that an African nation will one day lift the FIFA World Cup trophy.
“CAF is making enormous progress in developing and growing men’s and women’s football in Africa and making it amongst the best in the world. We remain confident that an African nation will be champions of the FIFA World Cup,” he added.
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