Overview: Africa’s heroes to Russia

CAIRO – 17 December: Five African teams have qualified to the World Cup including three teams from North Africa; each of these teams led the group in which they played in.
Egypt
The Pharaohs participated in the FIFA World Cup twice only in their history. Their first participation was in Italy 1934 and was 56 years before they returned to Italy to participate in the 1990 World Cup.

In their first participation, the Egyptian team came out of the tournament after suffering a defeat against Hungary 4-2, while in World Cup 1990 Egypt was in group F with England, Netherlands and Ireland and failed to pass the group stage.

The top scorer of all time: Hossam Hassan with 69 goals in 178 matches.

The Current top scorer: Mohamed Salah with 32 goals in 56 matches.

Star Man: Mohamed Salah



Nigeria

After great performances on their way to the knockout stages in their first two FIFA World Cup appearances in 1994 and 1998, Nigeria suffered in the World Cup before reaching the knockout stages again in 2014.

The Eagles in managed to beat Bosnia and Herzegovina in Brazil in 2014 before presenting solid performances and narrowly losing against Argentina and France in the second round. But the most populous country in Africa has always had high aspirations, and has set itself the goal of becoming the first African country to reach the semi-finals.
The top scorer of all time: Rasheed Yekini with 37 goals in 57 matches.

The current top scorer: Ahmed Musa with 13 goals in 64 matches.

Star Man: John Obi Mikel



Tunisia

Despite Tunisia's participation in four FIFA World Cups in 1978, 1998, 2002 and 2006, it failed to pass the group stage. Tunisia, in its four participations, had only one victory against Mexico in their first match at the 1978 FIFA World Cup Argentina.

Despite its failures in four FIFA World Cups, the African continent is proud of the Tunisian team for being the first African team to win a match in FIFA World Cup, which has contributed to the development of the game in the continent.

The top scorer of all time: Issam Jemâa with 36 goals in 84 matches.

The current top scorer: Wahbi Khazri with 11 in 35 matches.

Star Man: Ali Maaloul



Morocco

Morocco managed to qualify to the World Cup finals four times. In 1970, the team managed to secure their participation in Mexico and waited 16 years later to return to the same country. Then they were the first Arab and African team to reach the round of 16 after being at the top of Group F which also hosted strong teams such as England and Portugal. However, they were knocked out of the round of 16 with a goal from Luther Matthews after a difficult loss to West Germany, which then qualified to the final.

Later on, Morocco qualified again to the FIFA World Cup in 1994 and 1998 but failed to get past the Group stage.

The top scorer of all time: Ahmed Faras 42 goals in 88 matches.

The current top scorer: Hakim Ziyech 7 goals in 13 matches.

Star Man: Mbark Boussoufa



Senegal

World Cup Korea/Japan 2002 witnessed the peak of Senegalese football throughout history. In part that is due to the two following reasons: first, because the qualification to the FIFA World Cup was at the expense of giants such as Morocco, Egypt and Algeria; and secondly, because Lions of Teranga made their way to the quarter-finals during their first participation in the tournament.

After defeating the champions France (1-0) in the opening match, Bruno Metsu's side drew 1-1 with Denmark and Uruguay 3-3 to oust Sweden in the round of 16 (2-1), before falling to Turkey with the golden goal.

The top scorer of all time: Henri Camara with 31 goals in 99 matches.

The current top scorer: Moussa Sow with 15 goals in 45 matches.

Star Man: Sadio Mane