Confederation of African Football (CAF) President, Dr. Patrice Motsepe, has praised the exceptional performances of African national teams at the 2026 FIFA World Cup, describing the continent's campaign as a historic milestone that highlights the remarkable progress and growing global competitiveness of African football.
In a statement published on CAF's official website on Wednesday, Motsepe commended the 10 African nations that represented the continent at the expanded 48-team FIFA World Cup, saying their achievements demonstrated Africa's rising status in world football.
The African representatives—Algeria, Cabo Verde, Côte d'Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Ghana, Morocco, Senegal, South Africa and Tunisia—delivered one of the continent's most successful World Cup campaigns.
Nine of the 10 African teams advanced from the group stage to the Round of 32, setting a new record for the highest qualification rate by African nations at a FIFA World Cup. Although Africa made up just 20.8 per cent of the participating teams, its representatives accounted for 28.1 per cent of the nations that progressed to the knockout stage.
Motsepe singled out Morocco for reaching the quarter-finals for the second consecutive FIFA World Cup, while also applauding Egypt for booking a place in the Round of 16. He further commended 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," 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 represents 90 per cent of the African teams that participated and is the highest qualification rate ever achieved by the continent."
While celebrating the historic feat, the CAF president noted that there remains room for improvement and expressed confidence that African teams will continue to raise their standards ahead of future tournaments.
"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.
As part of efforts to sustain the momentum, Motsepe announced that CAF will organise a strategic conference involving national team coaches, technical staff, former international players, football experts and key stakeholders to evaluate Africa's performance at the 2026 World Cup and develop recommendations for 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.
Reaffirming CAF's commitment to the long-term development of football across the continent, Motsepe pledged sustained investment in youth development, grassroots football, domestic leagues and national teams across all 54 CAF 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," he said.
