There was a dramatic increase in the number of countries able to qualify for the final stages of the 2026 men’s football World Cup. Of the 48 teams to qualify, global football body Fifa decided that nine would be African countries. This has functioned as a natural experiment for north Africa.
Four teams from the region arrived at the expanded tournament. They were Morocco (ranked 7th ahead of the cup), Algeria (28th), Egypt (29th) and Tunisia (46th). These are four neighbouring countries with comparable football cultures, but four different institutional choices – and four different outcomes.
