The 2026 FIFA World Cup runs from 11 June to 19 July across Mexico, Canada and the United States. The opening match sees the hosts face South Africa, a repeat of the 2010 opener. The expanded 48-team tournament includes a record 10-team African contingent, the largest from the continent to date.
The African representatives and their nicknames are: South Africa — Bafana Bafana; Ghana — The Black Stars; Morocco — The Atlas Lions; Senegal — The Lions of Teranga; Ivory Coast — The Elephants; Algeria — Les Fennecs; Tunisia — The Carthage Eagles; Cape Verde — The Blue Sharks; Egypt — The Pharaohs; Democratic Republic of Congo (Congo DR) — The Leopards.
Complete groups and tables, Africa-specific fixtures and kick-off times, the full fixture list and the full list of African squads are provided in the tournament resources and will be updated as the competition progresses.
Broadcast rights for selected African nations have been announced: in South Africa public broadcaster SABC holds the rights across its channels and on radio while SportyTV holds pay-TV rights; in Nigeria rights are listed as New World TV, Startimes, SuperSport and NTA; Ghana’s rights are held by the government with free-to-air coverage including ChannelOne TV and UTV; Kenya’s free-to-air rights are held by KBC; Senegal’s rights are listed as New World TV and RTS (Radiodiffusion Télévision Sénégalaise).
According to ESPN, social channels to follow include Instagram @espnafrica; X/Twitter @ESPNAfrica; YouTube @ESPNUK or @ESPNFC; and TikTok @espnafrica.
