2026 World Cup: Africa’s stunning success leaves Asia searching for answers.

If the expanded World Cup format is an opportunity for Africa, the opposite is true for Asia.

In the 27 games played, the representatives of Asia Nine managed only three victories with 0.67 points per game.

African countries played 30 games and won 10 with 1.33 points per game.

In the final group games, five African and Asian games are crucial for qualification. The Asian nations have won none and lost four.

Four years ago, Australia, Japan and South Korea made the first playoffs.

This time only Australia and Japan.

While African teams have grown and improved – five have qualified for the finals for the first time – Asia has lagged behind.

Uzbekistan head coach Fabio Cannavaro said after his team lost all three games, “every team needs to improve, except for Japan, Australia and Iran.”

of The consequences of the collapse of South KoreaIt was high because of South Africa’s shock defeat in the last game.

South Korean President Lee Jae-myung called for an investigation into the team’s poor performance, calling it a “failure of organization and personnel.”

Hours later, Head coach Hong Myung Bo resigned In charge of two years.

When Jordan played his first World Cup, he lost all three games, scoring 3 goals and scoring 8 goals.

Jordan’s head coach Jamal Salami gave a reason for the high score controversy.

This is because African players compete in the big leagues in Europe, said Selami.

“The most important thing for Jordanian football is to have players competing in strong and competitive leagues if we are to have a big chance of achieving results.”

The numbers back this up with 20 of Morocco’s 26 players playing in Europe and 15 in the top five leagues.

The last African nation in the confederation’s playoffs, the Democratic Congo, had 24 players in Europe but only 11 in the big leagues.

Only Egypt has a lower number, with 17 players in domestic league clubs and 6 players in European teams.

Jordanian forward Moussa Al-Tamari is the only player in Europe at French club Rennes.

Iraq and Uzbekistan have three in Europe, while Iran has four.

There is no comparison with the best performing countries in Asia. Japan has 23 players in Europe, Australia 16 and South Korea 15.

It shows a development gap that needs to be addressed.

The Asian confederation has a lot of work to do to catch up with Africa and show its teams can be competitive in this expanded format.