Africa sent a record ten nations to the 48-team 2026 FIFA World Cup, double the five it was allotted in the previous 32-team format, and nine went on to qualify for the knockout stage
More African teams means more African players, more African storylines, more African faces in front of the cameras, and of course, more reasons for both global and homegrown brands to take advantage of that visibility.
Africa's performance on the international stage - most notably Morocco's historic run to the 2022 World Cup semi-finals as well as their current position of 6th on the FIFA world rankings at the time of writing - had already reshaped how marketers perceive African football. Rather than reinforcing familiar underdog narratives, they have demonstrated that African teams can compete with the world's elite.
The World Cup turns local footballing talent into marketable continental and global assets, an angle long noticed and utilised by leading African and African-focused brands such as MTN, TotalEnergies, Guinness and Unilever.
Originally published by African Business.