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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Sport
Andy Martin

World Cup 2026: which countries have qualified and how did they do it?

World Cup Argentina Brazil Christian Pulisic Federico Valverde Lionel Messi Luis Díaz Mehdi Taremi Jordan Real Madrid
Mehdi Taremi, Mohamed Salah, Luis Díaz (and Cristian Romero)
Mehdi Taremi, Mohamed Salah, Luis Díaz (and Cristian Romero). Composite: Getty Images

Africa

Nine countries qualified as group winners – Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, Ghana, Cape Verde, South Africa, Senegal and Côte d’Ivoire – and the Democratic Republic of Congo gave the continent a 10th representative at the tournament by battling through the playoffs.

Egypt
Mohamed Salah scored twice as Hossam Hassan’s side beat Djibouti 3-0 in Casablanca in October and made up for missing out on Qatar 2022 by reaching the finals with a game in hand. This will be Egypt’s fourth finals, even though they have yet to win a game. Bizarrely, the Pharaohs did qualify for the first World Cup, in 1930, but missed their boat from Marseille to South America after a storm delayed them.

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