In January and February, the Asian Cup and the African Cup of Nations were held at the same time, and for domestic fans, everyone must pay more attention to the Asian Cup. But fans should also be the first to know about the AFCD of Nations. It can be said that the Africa Cup of Nations is much more lively than the Asian Cup. In the Asian Cup, Iraq defeated Japan, which was like a big upset. But if you look at the Africa Cup of Nations, such an upset, grab a lot.
The most surprising thing is the host country, Côte d'Ivoire. It's been a long time since we've seen a host with such a crotch pull. In the group stage, they were defeated by their opponents 4:0. The point is, Equatorial Guinea, which defeated them, is not a strong team either. Indeed, in the last Asian Cup, the host United Arab Emirates also lost to Qatar 0:4, but that was the semi-finals. And Ivory Coast lost like this in the group stage, disgraced the hosts.
Not only Equatorial Guinea, this Africa Cup of Nations, there are too many eye-catching dark horses, such as Cape Verde that defeated Ghana, Mauritania that defeated Algeria, Mali who defeated South Africa, and so on. The appearance of so many dark horses together gives people the feeling that African football is about to be reshuffled.
In such an up-and-coming atmosphere, we have to make some outrageous judgments - although the Africa Cup of Nations has just finished the group stage, one thing is basically certain: in the 2026 World Cup, there will be a new team in Africa.
The so-called new team is the team that participates in the World Cup for the first time. Just give a few examples, such as the 02 World Cup, the national football team is the new army. In the 22 World Cup, Qatar is also a new army. Specific to Africa, there was a blowout of new teams in the 06 World Cup, when Angola, Togo, Ivory Coast, and Ghana all participated for the first time in history, and four new teams were born.
If 06 is the first major reshuffle in African football since the new century, then in recent years, there may be a second reshuffle.
The so-called reshuffle is nothing more than a change in the traditional pattern, with the strong team falling behind and the weak team counterattacking. Taking this Africa Cup of Nations as an example, we can clearly feel that the traditional powerhouses of Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana and Algeria are no longer good. It's really not a hasty conclusion based on a game or two. You must know that Algeria has been eliminated from the group for two consecutive Africa Cup of Nations, and they are both at the bottom of the group. And as recently as the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations, they were still champions. As for Ghana, don't look at their participation in the last World Cup, but their current world ranking is 61, which can be said to be very low. Although the world ranking does not represent absolute strength, if you are too low, you will not be very strong, right?
Although Morocco, Senegal and other strong teams are still on the line, they obviously can't support the full energy of African football. Let's not forget that the 2026 World Cup expansion will almost double the number of African places to 9.5. Looking at the poor performance of Ivory Coast and Ghana, can they have a good result in this World Preliminary Tournament? Instead of believing them, it is better to believe in Cape Verde, Equatorial Guinea, and Mali.
Actually, this is really not random optimism. Take Mali, for example, they actually reached the final one-on-one stage in the last World Qualifiers, and they are only one step away from qualifying for the World Cup. This shows that they definitely have what it takes to reach the World Cup, and now that the number of places has increased, their hopes of qualifying have naturally increased greatly. In addition, Burkina Faso has also improved over the years and has a chance to qualify for the World Cup.
Historically, there have been 13 African teams that have participated in the World Cup. You must know that Africa is the continent with the most countries in the world, and the team is naturally indispensable. With the size of African football, they are likely to be able to take advantage of the dividends of army expansion to give birth to a new World Cup team. The aforementioned Equatorial Guinea, Burkina Faso, Mali, Cape Verde and even the weaker Mauritania have opportunities.
The World Cup has been held for 22 times, and there are new troops in each edition, and the expansion in 2026 will be no exception. And among the many new teams in 2026, African teams are definitely the most, and we will wait and see.