The transformation of African football at the World Cup has been nothing short of meteoric.
At the 2018 World Cup in Russia, not one of Africa’s five teams made it out of the group stage, recording just three wins from 15.
Fast forward to the 2026 World Cup and Africa will be held up as vindication of Gianni Infantino’s expansion project.
Of the 10 African teams, all but one made it through the group stage.
Only Tunisia failed to progress, with Cape Verde, Egypt, Ivory Coast, Morocco and South Africa runners-up and Algeria, DR Congo, Ghana and Senegal through in third place.
It is a very different story for Asia, with only two of its nine countries advancing past the group stage.
For Africa it is cause for celebration, while Asia is left to reflect on failure.
‘Morocco created a blueprint of how it can be done’
Infantino’s revamp of the World Cup had been rubber-stamped well before the 2018 World Cup.
So, when Africa performed so poorly in Russia, the justification for giving the continent another four places seemed weak.
Eight years on, and such concerns have been completely banished.
It is a remarkable turnaround in fortunes, partly inspired by the long-term commitment by the Moroccan FA.
Confederation of African Football (Caf) president Patrice Motsepe puts it down to the “hard work and investments in youth football development, coaching and professional football leagues” across the continent.
The first signs of improvement came in Qatar four years ago, as two African nations reached the knockout stage for the first time.
Before the 2022 World Cup, only three African teams had reached the quarter-finals: Cameroon in 1990, Senegal in 2002, and Ghana in 2010.
Morocco achieved what no African country had done, reaching the semi-finals by beating Belgium, Spain and Portugal, before France ended their run.
If Morocco could create a structure which would bring clear, long-term results – including beating supposed bigger countries in the knockout rounds – why couldn’t other African countries?
“Morocco created a blueprint of how it can be done, which is years and years of investing in grassroots football and academies,” former Nigeria captain William Troost-Ekong told BBC Sport Africa this month.
“Morocco have invested not just money but also time and effort, with a clear idea of how they can progress.
“The facilities they have, the consistency throughout their age groups, I think that’s the only blueprint you can follow.”
Algeria will play Switzerland in Vancouver on Thursday after taking one of the best third-place slots
The new World Cup format did help, but that does not explain why Africa did so well and Asia so poorly.
In most recent World Cups, two of the top 16 teams would be in each group.
Now those 16 teams are spread over 12 groups – meaning only four groups have two of the traditionally stronger countries.
Those numbers alone suggest that the groups, in general, were weaker.
Third-placed teams went through too, leading to the first knockout round having 32 teams – as many as in the group stage in Qatar.
Just how far can Africa’s representatives go this year?
South Africa were eliminated in the last 32 by a late goal from Canada on Sunday, and the co-hosts will now face the winners of Morocco’s game against the Netherlands.
Morocco go into the game as African champions, though only after Caf overturned the result of the Africa Cup of Nations final following Senegal’s controversial walk-off.
A decade ago Morocco would have been given little chance of beating the Netherlands, but no-one would dismiss their chances today.
Indeed, there is an argument the North Africans should really be favourites. After all, they are now sixth in the
FIFA world rankings – one place above the Netherlands.
With the top four ranked countries – Argentina, England, France and Spain – kept apart in the bracket, it makes it more difficult to emulate Morocco and reach the last four.
An African country would likely have to beat one of those four to reach the semi-finals again.
For instance, Morocco is on a collision course with France in a potential quarter-final.
Defending champions Argentina, who play Cape Verde on Friday, have four African teams in their bracket and could potentially face one in each round on the way to the semi-finals.
As part of that section, Algeria face Switzerland and Ghana meet Colombia. It presents the best possibility of an all-African tie in the last 16.
