The Director-General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has hailed African teams’ performance at the 2026 World Cup and is hoping that the Super Eagles of Nigeria will qualify for the next edition of the football fiesta.

Okonjo-Iweala, who said this in a tweet on her X handle, said African teams have made the continent “proud” at the World Cup in the US, Mexico and Canada.

“So proud of the performance of the African teams at the World Cup! Morocco and Egypt have made it through so far, but Cabo Verde was a standout,” she wrote.

“DRC, Côte d’Ivoire, and Ghana also battled. Thanks to all for making us proud. Keeping fingers crossed on further progress! Would be exciting if Nigeria makes it through to the next World Cup.”

Ten African teams qualified for the expanded 48-nation tournament in North America, the first time such a number of countries from the continent will be playing at the World Cup.

Of the number, a historic nine teams from Africa reached the last 32 of the competition, leading to an outpouring of praise for the countries flying Africa’s flag.

But after that round of matches, only Morocco and Egypt reached the last 16. The Atlas Lions of Morocco later defeated Australia to reach the quarter-finals, while Egypt will take on world champions Argentina in their last 16 match on Tuesday.

Nigeria did not qualify for the 2026 World Cup after losing to DR Congo in the final of the African Play-Off Tournament last year. This was after the Super Eagles missed out on the automatic ticket, which South Africa picked from Group C of the African qualification series.

The Super Eagles’ absence is the second time in a row that Nigeria will miss the World Cup. In 2022, Nigeria lost the ticket to Ghana. (Channels)

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