'Their Time Has Come': FIFA President Applauds African Teams' World Cup 2022 Performance

As football fans around the globe have already started taking stock of the FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar, no one ever expected an Arab or African team to qualify for the World Cup semi-finals, but Morocco, the surprise team of the tournament, made history and did it. This Saturday, the “Atlas Lions” are set to fight for third-place against Croatia.

President of FIFA Gianni Infantino has applauded on Friday the performance of African teams in the FIFA World Cup 2022 tournament in Qatar after Morocco, the surprise team of the tournament, made history and qualified for the semi-finals of the championship as the first national team ever from the African continent to make it past the quarter-finals.

“I think Morocco played exceptionally well - they were a great success and worked very, very well,” the FIFA president said. “They played with great desire, determination and undeniable quality. Reaching a final cannot be done by chance. It's the result of a long-term effort, investment by the Moroccan football federation, all the technical staff, and a young Moroccan coach who has also been in club football there.”

This year's World Cup in Qatar changed the old stereotype of African football. African national teams have presented themselves as strong opponents with two out of the five representatives of the continent, Morocco and Senegal, making their way to the knockout stage for only the second time in history - and the first since the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

In the meantime, the other three African nations, Ghana, Cameroon, and Tunisia, did not leave the Qatar tournament without a fight.

“And also I want to congratulate the other African teams,” Infantino said. “Senegal qualified from the group stage, which wasn't the case in 2018, and then came up against a very strong England team. Cameroon, Ghana and Tunisia also played very well and up to the last minute of the last matches, they had a chance of qualifying, which shows you the standard of African football.”

Speaking to reporters ahead of Morocco’s third-place play-off against Croatia on Saturday, the FIFA president commented on Africa’s surprising show-up at the tournament, saying that African football's “time has come.”

“I'm delighted because for many decades, we've been talking about the development of African football and when their time will come - their time has come,” said Infantino.

He added that he would be looking forward to “some more excellent performances” from Africa in the next version of the FIFA World Cup hosted by the United States, Canada, and Mexico, for which “double the number of African teams” is going to be qualifying.

The 2026 tournament is planned to host 48 national teams instead of 32.