FIFA President praises small team for winning World Cup ticket

(Dan Tri) - President of the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA), Gianni Infantino, praised Cape Verde's historic achievement after the country's national team won the right to participate in the 2026 World Cup.

28 teams have early tickets to the World Cup

Host (3 teams): USA, Mexico, Canada

Asia (8 teams): Australia, Iran, Japan, Jordan, South Korea, Uzbekistan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar.

South America (6 teams): Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Uruguay.

Europe (1 team): England

Oceania (1 team): New Zealand

Africa (9 teams): Egypt, Senegal, South Africa, Cape Verde, Morocco, Ivory Coast, Algeria, Tunisia, Ghana.

"A historic moment," FIFA President Gianni Infantino said in a video quoted by SportNation channel after witnessing Cape Verde being one of nine African representatives to qualify for the 2026 World Cup taking place in North America next year.

In the decisive match on October 13, Cape Verde won against Eswatini with a score of 3-0, while direct competitor Cameroon only had a disappointing goalless draw against Angola.

Cape Verde becomes the smallest country in the world to qualify for the World Cup (Photo: Reuters).

At the end of the qualifying round, Cape Verde topped Group D with 23 points, 4 points more than Cameroon. This is also the first time the team nicknamed “Blue Sharks” has qualified for the World Cup and won a ticket to the final round of the most attractive tournament on the planet.

Notably, with a population of only about 525,000 people, Cape Verde became the second smallest country in the history of participating in the World Cup, only after Iceland in 2018 (391,000 people), and also the country with the smallest area in the history of the tournament, only 4,000 km², surpassing the old record of Trinidad & Tobago (5,000 km²).

They have never qualified before, and did not even qualify in the early stages of FIFA, so the FIFA President himself has praised Cape Verde for the historic milestone they have just achieved.

"Congratulations to all the people of Cape Verde on qualifying for the World Cup for the first time. Your flag will fly high and your anthem will be sung at the greatest World Cup of all time," the FIFA chief said.

Thus, Cape Verde becomes the 9th African country to qualify for the 2026 World Cup after Egypt, Senegal, South Africa, Morocco, Ivory Coast, Algeria, Tunisia, Ghana.

The nine group winners will automatically qualify for the next round. The four best runners-up will then compete in a play-off round consisting of two semi-finals and a final in November. The four African teams that have qualified for the play-offs are Cameroon, Nigeria, Gabon and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The 2026 World Cup will have a total of 48 participating teams, of which Asia has 8 direct slots and 1 play-in slot; Europe has 16 slots; Africa has 9 direct slots and 1 play-in slot; South America has 6 direct slots and 1 play-in slot; North, Central and South America and the Caribbean have 6 direct slots (including 3 co-host teams USA, Canada, Mexico) and 2 play-in slots; Oceania has 1 direct slot and 1 play-in slot.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/the-thao/chu-tich-fifa-khen-ngoi-doi-bong-nho-be-gianh-ve-du-world-cup-20251015234132762.htm