Record number of African teams advance to World Cup knockout stage

African teams have made history with nine out the 10 teams qualifying for the 2026 World Cup advancing to the knockout stage of the tournament, after a previous record of two.

This follows the Democratic Republic of Congo’s 3-1 victory against Uzbekistan and Algeria’s stunning 3-3 draw against Austria on Saturday night.

After 17 days of competition, Morocco, South Africa, Senegal, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Cape Verde, Egypt, Congo, and Algeria are now through to the round of 32.

The only country not to make it to the next round was Tunisia.

Morocco and South Africa were the first African teams to book their spots to the knockout stage, with the latter advancing for the first time their history.

Cape Verde are having debut World Cup campaign to remember finishing second in Group H ahead of Uruguay and Saudi Arabia.

Only six African countries had ever qualified for the knockout stage, several of them multiple times, but the most in the same year had been two, in 2014 and 2022.

This year’s tournament has shown the strength of African soccer goes deep, with Cape Verde and DR Congo both surprise names in the round of 32.

The DRC has a tall task in facing England next, but for now its team is soaking in the moment.

“It’s really historic for our country,” forward Fiston Mayele said after the game. “It’s the first win and the first knockout stage.”

“Today, I have to be proud here, and almost everywhere in my country, everyone is happy with what we did. We’re proud to be Congolese, and I think we will keep going.”

Mayele scored a goal 78 minutes in, sandwiched between two scores from Yoane Wissa — a penalty kick at the 68-minute mark and another in stoppage time.

Algeria advanced after the most thrilling ending to a game at this year’s World Cup. It was tied 2-2 with Austria in stoppage time and seemed content to play for a tie until captain Riyad Mahrez struck suddenly for a go-ahead goal.

Austria countered two minutes later on the final play of the game, but the draw was still enough to advance both teams.

After Congo’s win, with the player of the game trophy by his side, Wissa described the long road it’s been for his country to get to this point.

“It’s only the second time we are in the World Cup, 52 years later. We started to qualify for the World Cup four years ago with this group,” Wissa said.

“First game against Portugal, you drew. You lost against Colombia. Now you’re losing one-nil after (10) minutes, so yeah, nothing is easy in football. We just need to show resilience, and when a time like this comes, you have to enjoy, because it’s not easy.”

Wissa hopes that the success in this World Cup shows that the future is bright for African soccer teams with young talent paving the way.

He said now “every African team can dream big”.