Algeria, Egypt, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Morocco, Senegal, South Africa, Tunisia and Cape Verde. These nine teams will represent Africa at the next World Cup, while the 10th representative could reach the World Cup through the Intercontinental Play-off.
Eight of these nine teams have already played in the World Cup, Ghana was the closest to the semi-finals, but was stopped in the quarter-finals by Uruguay in 2010. On the other hand, the only debutant from this continent at the next World Cup will be Cape Verde.
In the final round, the "Blue Sharks" defeated Eswatini (3:0) at home, finishing the qualifiers ahead of Cameroon and becoming the third national team, after Jordan and Uzbekistan, to debut next year in the USA, Canada and Mexico.
This was expected after FIFA decided to expand the number of participants in the world's largest competition to 48 teams.
Expanded World Cup - exotics are coming.
Cape Verde is barely visible on the map - it is located in the Atlantic Ocean, 570 kilometers west of Senegal and consists of ten volcanic islands and several smaller rocks. The largest island is Santiago with the capital Praia. This year they celebrate half a century of independence from Portugal.
With an area of four thousand square kilometers (Montenegro, for comparison, has 13,883 square kilometers), it is the smallest country ever to participate in the World Cup. Not the smallest in terms of population, either, because with nearly 600 thousand, they have more inhabitants than Iceland, which participated in 2018.
When it comes to football parameters, it is not a classic Lilliputian. The current 70th-ranked team in FIFA's rankings was 27th on the list 11 years ago, in 2014. However, it did not make it to the World Cup in Brazil that year, which featured 32 teams.
The Football Association was founded in 1982 and became a member of FIFA in 1986. They made their World Cup and Africa Cup of Nations qualifying debuts in 2000. They qualified for the Africa Cup of Nations for the first time in 2013 and have reached the quarter-finals twice since then.
This national team has also received significant assistance from FIFA. The FIFA Forward program has enabled the national team to be financed, and artificial pitches have been built, giving young players the chance to play. Thanks to FIFA's help, the "Aderito Sena" stadium on the island of São Vicente has been reconstructed. The adaptation was made so that the 2022 World Cup qualifiers could be played at this stadium.
When it comes to World Cup qualifiers, Cape Verde started with a 0-0 draw with Angola, before beating Eswatini (2-0). They were then defeated by Cameroon (4-1), but then Cameroon drew two matches, which the island team took advantage of, defeating Libya, Mauritius twice, Angola, and then Cameroon in September in the second match. Even then, a surprise was hinted at.
On October 8, a 3-3 draw with Libya followed, which postponed promotion to the final round and the match with Eswatini. Then, in the first half of the decisive match, there were no goals, so there was nervousness. And when Dailon Livramento scored three minutes later, there was relief. After Willy Semedo's goal, it was clear that history had been written, and when Stopira set the final score, the celebrations could begin.
On December 4th, every resident of this country will probably be in front of their TV to watch the historic draw for the World Cup.
Bonus video:
