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Top 10 worst African performances in World Cup history

Top 10 worst African performances in World Cup history

The 2022 FIFA World Cup is upon us with the world converging in Qatar as 32 teams compete for glory, national pride and ultimately; a shiny trophy.

Five of those teams are African but none of Senegal, Morocco, Tunisia, Ghana and Cameroon have managed to inspire much confidence going into this tournament which is expected to be a poor one from an African perspective.

This inspired us to take a look back at some of the worst African performances in World Cup history; here are 10 times African countries have performed woefully at FIFA World Cups in ascending order of recency.

Zaire, now known as DR Congo, attended their first and only FIFA World Cup in 1974 but their performance in West Germany was forgettable to say the least.

Zaire at the 1974 World Cup
Zaire at the 1974 World Cup

The African country lost all three games in Group 2, 2-0 to Scotland, 9-0 to Yugoslavia and 3-0 to Brazil, failing to score while also conceding 14 to finish dead last in the group.

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Morocco were in Group F at the 1994 FIFA World Cup in the United States alongside the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia and Belgium but the tournament didn’t go as planned at all.

The Atlas Lions lost all three games and managed just two goals while conceding five and finishing bottom of the group.

Tunisia were the whipping boys of Group G where they finished without a win against Romania, England and Colombia.

Tunisia v England at the 1998 World Cup in France 
Tunisia v England at the 1998 World Cup in France

The Carthage Eagles only picked up a point through a 1-1 draw against Romania in the final game which was also the only goal they scored in France.

Many things were wrong with the 2002 World Cup from a Nigerian perspective but the shabby group stage display in Korea-Japan was unprecedented.

Nigeria 2002 World Cup Squad 
Nigeria 2002 World Cup Squad

The Super Eagles finished bottom of Group F and scored just once in a 2-1 defeat to Sweden, having also lost 1-0 to Argentina and playing out a goalless draw against England.

Togo qualified for the 2006 World Cup against all odds but the Mundial in Germany proved to be a step too far for the overachievers.

Togo were poor at the 2006 World Cup in Germany 
Togo were poor at the 2006 World Cup in Germany

They only managed one goal and conceded five, losing all three games to Switzerland, France and South Korea to finish bottom of Group G.

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The 2010 World Cup was not a great one for African teams in general which is ironic because it was the first ever on African soil.

Four out of five African teams crashed out of the group stages in South Africa, one of which was Cameroon who lost all three games to the Netherlands, Japan and Denmark, finishing bottom of Group E.

Nigeria failed to make it out of the group stages in 2010, a tournament that is mostly remembered for that legendary open goal miss by Yakubu Aiyegbeni.

Yakubu Aiyegbeni vows not to apologize to Nigerians for miss chance against South Korea 
Yakubu Aiyegbeni vows not to apologize to Nigerians for miss chance against South Korea

The Super Eagles only picked up a point in the group, courtesy of a 2-2 draw in their final group game against South Korea having previously lost to Argentina and Greece.

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Keeping up with the trend of African teams performing poorly at the African World Cup, Algeria did not even manage to score as they were booted out in the group stage.

Algeria only had one point at the 2010 World Cup 
Algeria only had one point at the 2010 World Cup

The Fennecs lost two games in Group C to the United States and Slovenia and then played out a goalless draw against England to secure their only point.

As is often the case with African teams at international tournaments, Cameroon had issues off the field that distracted them from football in Brazil 2014.

Cameroon were bad at Brazil 2014 
Cameroon were bad at Brazil 2014

The Indomitable Lions were dominated in Group A where they failed to pick up a single point, with three defeats and one goal to their name.

The most recent World Cup in Russia saw Egypt play three games against the hosts, Uruguay and Saudi Arabia, losing all and crashing out in the group stages.

Mohamed Salah (L) and Egypt endured a difficult World Cup in Russia 
Mohamed Salah (L) and Egypt endured a difficult World Cup in Russia

Egypt finished bottom of Group A, conceding six times and scoring twice both thanks to talisman Mohamed Salah.

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