Kalusha Bwalya backs Africa to capitalise on bigger World Cup stage

With the number of participating African nations nearly doubling, the continent stands a stronger chance of producing surprise results and making a deeper impact on the global stage. 

Bafana Bafana are set to feature at the 2026 tournament alongside Senegal, Morocco, Egypt, Ivory Coast and Ghana, and the 1988 African Footballer of the Year outlined to SABC Sport how the expanded showpiece could shift the balance in Africa’s favour. 

"Of course we always stand a better chance, it's not like with us, when we used to play there used to be two teams in the 80's, and then a little bit later it was three teams in the 90's," said Bwalya.

"Now it has been five since 2006, if my memory serves me right, or is it 2002? So the difference is that we are always going to play against good teams across the world.

"If you look at the draw for the African teams, it's favourable and sometimes looks unfavourable because all the African teams are in a group with maybe one European team, and probably a South American team, and then probably an Asian team."

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Given his close proximity to Bafana, he hopes coach Hugo Broos’ men punch above their weight in a group that includes hosts Mexico and South Korea.

"I also hope Bafana will be up to the task when they do play against Mexico, and then of course South Korea and they're waiting for one of the other teams [Czech Republic or Denmark], which many people think could be Denmark," he added.

"But you need a favourable result against a European team, and preferably a draw, and then you have to kill the other teams, whether they're coming from Asia or CONCACAF, because I think the South American teams are very strong."