Of the nine nations definitely heading to next year’s World Cup from the African confederation, only Cape Verde will be sending a squad to the competition for the first time.
Ghana, Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Senegal, Cote d’Ivoire and South Africa have all experienced the slings and arrows of fortune at the most prestigious national team tournament on at least three occasions since it began in 1930.
Thirteen teams from South America, North America and Europe put in for that inaugural competition in Uruguay. Egypt were the only side from Africa to throw their hat into the ring but literally missed the boat.
A storm in the Mediterranean delayed their voyage from Egypt to Marseille and the onward connection The Florida set off from southern France without them. The hosts beat Argentina 4-2 in the final to claim the 13-team fest.
Keep up with the latest headlines on WhatsApp | LinkedIn
Egypt were on board for the 1934 World Cup in Italy to become the first team from Africa to appear at the event.
And the country’s finest secured their passage for the 2026 World Cup on 8 October with a 3-0 romp in Djibouti.
Egypt coach Hossam Hossan, who played for Egypt at the 1990 World Cup in Italy, told Egyptian broadcaster MBC Masr 2: “It is a great honour to reach the World Cup as both a player and a coach. We did a great job during the qualifiers because we have great players.”
Egypt – boasting English Premier League stars such as Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah and Manchester City’s Omar Mamoush as well as Al Ahly’s Zizo and Trézéguet – were predicted to emerge from a group containing Burkina Faso, Sierra Leone and Guinea-Bissau.
And they notched up 26 points out of a possible 30 from their 10 games in Group A to vindicate the optimism.
Road to 2026: Nigeria knuckle down as South Africa seek to claw back points
Shock qualification
Cape Verde’s progress from Group D came against the odds. They were in a pool with Cameroon who have played at eight World Cups – a record in Africa. Angola and Libya, both tough outfits, were also in the mix.
But the Blue Sharks – as they are nicknamed – shrugged off their failure to qualify for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations to achieve the most salient coup in a footballing history that was launched with a 1-0 loss to Guinea on 19 April 1978.
The path to glory started inauspiciously. Cape Verde drew with Angola, beat Eswatini and lost 4-1 in Cameroon.
But a run of five wins, including a 1-0 victory at home over Cameroon, left them top of the group.
In the ninth round of games as Cameroon were ahead in Mauritius, it all appeared to be disintegrating when Libya led Cape Verde 3-1 with 30 minutes to play in Tripoli.
But two late goals salvaged a 3-3 draw to provide the platform for Monday night’s pyrotechnics against Eswatini at the National Stadium in Praia.
“What a historic moment,” said Gianni Infantino, the head of Fifa which organises the World Cup.
Road to 2026: Senegal target top as Ivorians stay solid and Nigeria wake up
Infantino video messge
“Your work on football development in recent years has been incredible,” he added in his video eulogy to the Cape Verdean federation.
“And this is a moment where your stars will become global and power a new generation of football lovers across Cape Verde.
“Congratulations to everyone in Cape Verde for making the World Cup for the first time. Your flag will fly and your anthem will be heard at the greatest World Cup ever.”
So far, so feel-good. Cape Verde’s progress as the second smallest country by population to feature at the tournament has yielded a narrative to justify Infantino’s brainchild of increasing the number of teams at the World Cup from 32 to 48.
But the decision to stage matches at 11 venues in the United States as well as five others in Mexico and Canada has brought uncertainty.
A month after warning that he would strip a host city from holding a match, the US President Donald Trump repeated that he would pressure Fifa to remove games from a designated venue on the basis of that city’s politics.
Speaking during a media event with the Argentinian president Javier Milei, who was visiting the White House after the announcement of a €20bn bailout for the country, Trump said: “If someone is doing a bad job, and I feel there’s unsafe conditions, I would call Gianni, who is phenomenal, and say: ‘Let’s move it to another location,”‘
“And he would do that. He wouldn’t love to do it, but he’d do it. Very easily, he’d do it.”
Cape Verde boss Bubista urges squad to seize chance to reach first World Cup
Organisation of major tournament
As the realpolitik rages, seven of the nine African sides who qualified for the World Cup will test their tournament mettle during the Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco from 21 December.
Ghana will miss out on the month-long continental championship.
In November 2024, when they failed to advance to the Cup of Nations for the first time since 2004, head coach Otto Addo was under threat of losing his job.
Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters
Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox
But like his Cape Verdean counterpart, Bubista, he remained to usher the squad along the road to redemption.
“To say it simply, we scored more goals in the World Cup campaign than we did during the Cup of Nations qualifiers,” Addo deadpanned.
“We are more mature and we were more clinical when taking our chances.
“I think we have come together as a united team,” he added. “If you have unity, everything is easy.”
Following a 5-0 win in Latvia on Tuesday night, England became the first of the 16 European sides to book a ticket for next summer and take the tally of qualified so far up to 22.
As the nine African teams savour their achievements and anticipate the draw on 5 December in Washington for the World Cup group stages, the four best runners-up from the World Cup qualifiers in Africa will fight in a mini-tournament in November for a berth at the intercontinental play-off next March with opponents from Asia, North America, South America and Oceania.
Nigeria, who are seeking a seventh appearance, will face potential debutants Gabon and Cameroon will take on Democratic Republic of Congo who were last at the World Cup in 1974 when the country was known as Zaire.
“This campaign is not finished,” said Nigeria coach Eric Chelle. “This is the beginning. And it will be very, very difficult.”