Africa had a historic 10 nations qualify for the 2026 World Cup. Following Algeria’s 3-3 draw with Austria and Congo’s 3-1 win over Uzbekistan, nine are officially headed to the knockout stage.

The previous record was two.

After 17 days of competition, Morocco, South Africa, Senegal, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Cape Verde, Egypt, Congo, and Algeria qualified for the round of 32.

Morocco was the first African nation to reach the semifinals of the World Cup four years ago in Qatar and looks capable of going deep again, having already held Brazil to a 1-1 draw.

It is a co-host for the next edition of the World Cup in 2030.

Only six African countries had ever qualified for the knockout stage (several of them multiple times). 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 Congo both surprise names in the round of 32.

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

“Now every African team can dream big,” said Congolese footballer Yoane Wissa.

“What’s coming next is good for the African teams, and we can see that now youngest players come earlier, and we showed our team with (Noah) Sadiki, (Ngal’ayel) Mukau, so that’s good, and that shows our federation can dream big.”

(With agency inputs)