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Tue, Jun 30, 2026 page6
- FIFA WORLD CUP: Africa soccer head praises continental World Cup success
- AFP, JOHANNESBURG
Confederation Africaine de Football (CAF) president Patrice Motsepe said on Sunday that hard work and investment in youth, coaching and infrastructure had paid off at the World Cup
Nine of the 10 African qualifiers for the expanded 48-team tournament in the US, Canada and Mexico have reached the knockout phase
Algeria, Cape Verde, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Ghana, Ivory Coast Morocco, Senegal and South Africa are in the round of 32. Only Tunisia failed to advance
Confederation Africaine de Football president Patrice Motsepe watches South Africa play Canada in Los Angeles on Sunday.
“Hard work and investments in youth football, coaching, professional leagues and infrastructure in each of the 54 CAF member associations is bearing fruit,” Motsepe said. “I congratulate the nine CAF member association presidents and their executive committees and thank the African governments for their co-operation and support
“The governance, transparency, financial and auditing best practices that have been introduced attracted new sponsors and partners and [helped] develop and grow African football,” he said. “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 90 percent success in qualifying for the second round — the highest figure among the six FIFA continental regions. South America with 83.33 percent was second and Europe with 81.25 percent was third
In 2022, Morocco became the first World Cup semi-finalists from Africa. The Atlas Lions overcame Belgium, Spain and Portugal en route to the penultimate stage before losing to France
Former Portuguese colony Cape Verde is a sparsely populated, 10-island archipelago off the west coast of Africa and the second smallest country by size to compete at the global showpiece. After stunning eight-time World Cup participants Cameroon in African qualifying, the Blue Sharks drew against star-studded Spain, Uruguay and Saudi Arabia to finish Group H runners-up. Africa benefited when FIFA expanded the World Cup from 32 teams at the last tournament. It was allocated nine places and DR Congo beat Jamaica in the final of an inter-continental play-off.
