Caf president Patrice Motsepe strongly believes that a team from the continent can reach the 2026 World Cup final.
“Morocco opened the door by reaching the semi-finals this month and I am confident an African nation will go further at the next World Cup,” said the South African billionaire.
“The main objective of CAF (Confederation of African Football) is for an African nation to win the World Cup and that goal is within reach.”
There will be nine or ten African teams that qualify for the 48-team World Cup in the United States, Canada, and Mexico in 2026. In Qatar, there were only five.
In Qatar, Morocco made history by being the first African team to make it to the semi-finals.
The Atlas Lions shocked Belgium in the group stage, then beat two stronger European teams, Spain and Portugal, in the knockout stage before losing to France in the semi-finals.
“There are at least 10 African nations that can compete at the highest level and win the World Cup,” added Motsepe.
He also praised Cameroon and Tunisia for shockingly beating Brazil and France in their groups. Brazil has won the World Cup five times, and France has won it twice.
“We should be proud of what Cameroon and Tunisia achieved. These and other African countries must learn from Morocco,” said the CAF president.
Cameroon and Tunisia lost in the first round, but Senegal made it to the round of 16, where they lost badly to England and were eliminated.
Senegal, the defending African champion, lost a big player before the tournament when star forward Sadio Mane got hurt.
Motsepe said that a disagreement between CAF and a sports agency called Lagardere had been “resolved amicably,” but he wouldn’t say more because of a clause that said he couldn’t.
In 2017, Lagardere signed a one billion dollar contract with the African football body based in Cairo. This contract was supposed to last until 2028.
But after just one year, the TV and marketing deal was thrown out of court because it broke two rules about competition.
A high-ranking CAF official who asked to remain anonymous told AFP that his organization would pay Lagardere $25 million in installments to end the dispute.
Motsepe said that Algeria, Benin, Morocco, Nigeria, and Zambia all wanted to host the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations after Guinea said they were “not ready” and dropped out.
Photo by Muzi Ntombela/BackpagePix
