The African Profile: All Ten African Nations at The World Cup

The World Cup kicks off tomorrow — so on the eve of the biggest summer in soccer, Gary Striker and The Qooligan zoom all the way out for a continental macro view: all ten African nations heading to World Cup 2026, group by group. Morocco headline the continent's hopes — red-hot, deep, and carrying real semifinal expectations after their run to the AFCON final, with Hakimi, Brahim Díaz and Bono leading a side built to go deep. But the story runs far past the favorites. Bafana Bafana open the whole tournament against Mexico with the toughest of draws. Côte d'Ivoire bring the most physically imposing back line in the field and arrive off a win over France. Cape Verde — the tiny island nation almost nobody fancied — might just be the shock of the group stage. And Senegal, stacked front to back, have the misfortune of landing in one of the tournament's true groups of death. We run the full continent: Tunisia as Group F kingmaker, Salah's last dance with Egypt, Mahrez and Ryan Aït-Nouri's Algeria, DR Congo's quiet third-place hopes in Portugal's group, and the Black Stars of Ghana facing a must-win opener against Panama. The thread running through it all: in this 48-team format, one win can be enough. We break down exactly who can sneak through — and which African side has the best shot at making history. New episodes of Summer '26 every day of the tournament at hooligan-soccer.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices