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ATLANTA ― Africa had 10 teams qualify for the 2026 World Cup. Congo coach Sébastien Desabre says there should actually be more.
With the expanded 48-team competition this year, African nations (Algeria, Cape Verde, Congo, Egypt, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Morocco, Senegal, South Africa and Tunisia) have made their emphatic imprint on the world’s largest stage. From Cape Verde’s improbable draw against Spain to Morocco’s dominance, teams from Africa have written their stories into the tournament’s history book.

“Football is at the heart of this continent, and we have beautiful players who worked really hard and thanks to their hard work, managed to work their way out of difficult situations,” Desabre said ahead of a June 27 match against Uzbekistan (7:30 p.m. ET, FOX)”I believe that, yes, there should be more teams in the World Cup. … We believe that everybody should be supporting African teams for them to go as far as possible.”

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US forward #20 Folarin Balogun (C) celebrates with teammates after scoring his team’s third goal during the 2026 World Cup Group D football match between USA and Paraguay at the Los Angeles Stadium in Inglewood on June 12, 2026.
(PATRICK T. FALLON, AFP via Getty Images)

As of this publishing, three teams (Ivory Coast, South Africa and Morocco) are on to the round of 32.
Six squads (Algeria, Cape Verde, Congo, Egypt, Ghana and Senegal) are still alive in the tournament and could advance to the knockout stages. Tunisia is the only country that’s been eliminated after dropping all three of its World Cup matches.
“We’re not here to participate. We’re really here to create our own history,” Congo midfielder Ngal’ayel Mukau said. “We know that we can play. We know that we have a strong defense.”
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 2026 World Cup has 10 African teams — Congo coach says there should be more
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