There’s more of the world in the soccer World Cup this year. The quadrennial tournament has expanded to a record field of 48 teams, up from 32 four years ago. The field is more representative of the world by population and continent, though still less than exactly so, with Asia in particular being shortchanged.

The expansion has sent a record 10 African countries to play in the World Cup being hosted by the United States, Mexico and Canada. That’s twice as many as who played in the last global tournament in Qatar.

Historically, Europe has enjoyed outsized representation in the most watched sporting event in the world. FIFA, the international governing body, has long justified the imbalance by arguing Europe has the most established and competitive professional leagues and, as a result, that continent’s national teams overall play a higher quality of what the rest of the world calls football. Soccer originated in Europe, England to be specific, so the claim to European superiority is not as dubious in this case compared to many others.

Sixteen teams, a third of the current field of 48, play in the European soccer federation, more than any other continent. With 10, Africa has the second most. The soccer federation of the two continents are the biggest, with 55 member countries in Europe and 54 in Africa.

Some critics of the bigger field initially suggested the inclusion of twice as many African teams as last time would lower the level of competition. There are several more rounds to go, but so far in the opening group stage, that has not been the case.

In the first 10 days of matches through June 23, African and European teams have played against each other nine times. The European teams have won four times and an African team once, along with four draws. Another way of summarizing those results: nine European teams have gained points in the standings, and six African sides have. Teams earn 3 points for a win, one for a draw and none for a loss.

Africa is not quite holding its own, the continent as a whole is at least not getting run off the field when matched against European opponents.

Games that have ended in draws rate as upsets. Cape Verde, playing in the World Cup for the first time, tied Spain, the European champion, and then Uruguay. Both opponents are former cup champions.

Egypt tied Belgium’s strong side. Yes, Egypt is in Africa, not the Middle East, and exults whenever it wins the Africa Cup of Nations.

The Democratic Republic of Congo, which had to defeat Jamaica in a playoff to qualify, held Portugal to a draw.

Ghana held England, its former colonial overseer, to a scoreless draw.

In the past, many African teams were known for their speed and rugged style of play, the last an attempt to make up for limited tactical and foot skills. Speed remains as one of the teams’ assets, but the rest has changed.

“The African countries have gotten better and better, with players playing overseas and (on) the national team,” observed one Fox announcer as Ghana was defeating Panama from the North and Central American federation.

Behind the improvement is not just Africans playing in Europe and elsewhere outside the continent, but also members of the African diaspora choosing the play for their ancestral homelands.

This World Cup features 75 European-born players on African teams, according to Gijsbert Oonk, a professor at Erasmus University Rotterdam in the Netherlands who studies the intersection of migration and sports, reports the Agence France-Presse, the French wire service.

“France has become the world’s most important exporter of football (soccer) talent. During the 2026 World Cup, close to 100 participating players were born in France. Yet only a minority of them represent the French national team,” Oonk wrote in a recent blog post.

French-born players of African heritage are representing Algeria, Morocco, Senegal, Mali and Haiti, all former colonies of France, according to AFP.

Senegal’s team played its former colonial master and went down to defeat, 3-1, before losing 3-2 to Norway. Senegal’s early performance has been as disappointing as Cape Verde’s has been uplifting. Senegal won the African championship on the field, only to have the title stripped because the team abandoned the field for a time to protest a penalty call.

Morocco, which was awarded the African championship, as of June 23 was the only African team to beat a European one, defeating Scotland. In its opening game, Morocco tied Brazil, which has won the World Cup five times, more often than any other country. By finishing in fourth place in 2022, Morocco boasts the best performance of any African country ever.

Since the first World Cup was staged in 1930, every champion has come from either Europe or South America. In all, only eight countries have won, five in Europe and three in South America.

The continents of Africa, Asia, Australia and North America have been shut out for nearly a century. A team from one of those continents winning, if not this year, then in the future, would make the tournament less of a competition ultimately between Europe and South America.

Maybe it is the United States, one of whose current stars is of African immigrant descent. Or an African country like Morocco or Ivory Coast, whose team is off to a strong start, or an Asian country like Japan.

The championship being claimed by another continent besides Europe or South America would put still more of the world in the World Cup.

Ronald Mitchell
Editor and Publisher, Bay State Banner