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STAT ATTACK: FIFA World Cup

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Numbers you might not know. This week we focus the spotlight on Africa in the FIFA World Cup with the 2026 qualifiers to resume next month.

4 – The number of African countries that have got past the quarter-finals at the World Cup, starting with Cameroon in 1990. They were followed by Senegal in 2002 and Ghana in 2010. Morocco went one better at the last tournament in Qatar by becoming the first African country to reach the semi-final and finished in fourth place.

8 – The African record number of times that Cameroon has qualified for the World Cup finals, outperforming any other African country. The Indomitable Lions’ debut at the 1982 finals in Spain saw them go home unbeaten after drawing all three of their group games. In 1990, they beat Argentina, Colombia and Romania on their way to the quarter-finals but in six subsequent tournament appearances have not got past the first round, although they beat Brazil 1-0 at the last finals in Qatar.

13 – The number of African countries who have qualified to compete in the World Cup. After Cameroon with eight appearances, comes Morocco, Nigeria and Tunisia with six each. The others have been Algeria (4), Ghana (4), Cote d’Ivoire (3), Egypt (3), Senegal (3), South Africa (3), Angola (1), Togo (1) and Zaire (now Democratic Republic of Congo) in 1974.

37 – The number of games that African teams have won at the World Cup finals, starting with the first for Tunisia in 1978 when they beat Mexico in their opening Group 2 match in Rosario, Argentina. Nigeria have won the most with six victories in16 matches at six different finals. They beat Bulgaria and Greece in 1994, Bulgaria again and Spain in 1998, Bosnia & Herzegovina (1998) and Iceland (2018)

157 – The number of goals that African teams have scored at the World Cup finals. The first scorer was Abdel Rahman Fawzi, who netted a double for Egypt against Hungary in Naples in the 1934 finals. The last African goal at the World Cup came from Morocco defender Ashraf Dari in the early minutes of the third and fourth place playoff match against Croatia in Qatar.