North Africa’s World Cup teams offered lessons in what works – and what doesn’t

Morocco consolidated, Egypt broke through, Algeria was frustrated and Tunisia collapsed. Meryeme Elbakali/Pexels 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…