Published on 6/28/2026
The group stage of the current edition of the World Cup finals produced an unprecedented historical scene in the history of the World Cup, the champion of which is the continent of Africa.
The curtain fell this morning on the first round matches, with 32 teams out of 48 qualifying for the knockout rounds, which begin tonight, Mecca and Doha time, with a confrontation between South Africa and Canada.
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Amazing African success
In the group stage, the longest in the history of the World Cup, the African continent was better than all other continents in terms of investing in expanding the tournament, as 9 African teams out of 10 that participated in the World Cup qualified for the round of 32 with a success rate of 90%, and the Tunisian team was the only one that left the tournament early.
The Spanish newspaper Marca commented on this by saying: “Nine African teams among the top 32 in the world is a continental record and evidence of the competitive depth in the 2026 World Cup, which was achieved due to the increase in seats.”
The nine African teams that passed the first round are Morocco, South Africa, Côte d’Ivoire, Cape Verde, Egypt, Ghana, Senegal, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Algeria.
European decline
Meanwhile, the European continent’s teams are still the most represented in the qualifying rounds in terms of number, with 13 out of 16 teams qualifying, with a rate of 81.25%, which means that the success rate of the old continent’s teams is lower than their brown counterparts.
The newspaper believes that African progress reduces the feeling of absolute control of the European continent’s teams over the World Cup tournament.
As for the Latin American continent, 5 out of 6 teams succeeded in qualifying for the next round, with a success rate of 83.3%.
Biggest loser
The Uruguay national team, the world champion on two previous occasions (1930, 1950), was the black spot in the Latin representation in the tournament, as it was the only team that bid farewell to the competition early, leaving the field to its counterparts, Argentina, the defending champion, Brazil, Ecuador, Colombia and Paraguay.
As for the CONCACAF teams, their success rate in passing the first round reached 50%, with the teams of the host countries Mexico, Canada and the United States advancing, while the teams of Haiti, Panama and Curacao left early, while the absolute failure was the continent of Oceania with the departure of its only representative, New Zealand, from the first round.
On the other hand, the Asian teams were the most affected by the tournament after Oceania, with only two teams out of 9 successfully progressing to the round of 32, a rate of 22.2%.
Japan and Australia qualified for the next round, while South Korea, Qatar, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Jordan and Uzbekistan were eliminated.
Africa devours Asia
Meanwhile, the African teams achieved remarkable success against their Asian counterparts, achieving 4 victories out of 7 held between them, with a winning percentage of slightly more than 57%.
The Asian teams achieved one victory, which was for Japan against Tunisia, while two matches were tied.
Results of the matches between Asian and African teams in the 2026 World Cup:
- Tunisia 0-4 Japan.
- Algeria 2-1 Jordan.
- South Africa 1-0 South Korea.
- Senegal 5-0 Iraq.
- Cape Verde 0-0 Saudi Arabia.
- Egypt 1-1 Iran.
- Democratic Republic of the Congo 3-1 Uzbekistan.
