When will an African side win the World Cup?
News
“If there’s something I want to see before God takes me to heaven or hell it would be great to see an African nation win [the World Cup], because this is a tournament that we all love passionately in Africa.”
Sunday Oliseh was part of the first African team to win football gold at the Olympics, helping Nigeria make history at the Atlanta 1996 Games, but the 51-year-old is still waiting to see that achievement matched at the Fifa World Cup.
There have been 22 editions of the global showpiece since 1930, and in that time 49 sides have represented the continent, taken from 13 countries, yet Africa has produced just one semi-finalist.
Details
That historic landmark came four years ago at Qatar 2022, when Morocco broke new ground for the world’s second-largest and second most populous continent.
It means the apocryphal prediction made by Brazil’s three-time World Cup winner Pele, who said in the 1970s that an African nation would get their hands on the trophy by the year 2000, has still not come to pass.
The big question is: how much longer will we have to wait?
Analysis
Africa had three quarter-finalists – Cameroon in 1990, Senegal in 2002 and Ghana in 2010 – before Morocco upset Belgium, Spain and Portugal on their way to the last four in Qatar.
The one thing underpinning the North Africans’ success has been long-term investment backed by the country’s King Mohammed VI.
Stay informed with the latest news on Wararka.so — your trusted source for Somalia and world news.
