African teams impress Thierry Henry at 2026 FIFA World Cup

Nine out of the ten qualified African teams, including Morocco, South Africa, Senegal, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Cape Verde, Egypt, Congo, and Algeria, advanced to the Round of 32. This marks a record-breaking achievement for Africa, surpassing the previous high of two teams in the knockout rounds during the 32-team tournament era. According to Opta, Africa now boasts the highest qualification rate to the knockout stage at 90 percent, outperforming CONMEBOL's 83 percent and UEFA's 81 percent.

Henry, working as a pundit for Fox Sports, attributed this growth to the continent's national teams recruiting dual-nationality players earlier in their careers.