{"id":38363,"date":"2026-06-29T18:49:14","date_gmt":"2026-06-29T16:49:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&#038;p=38363"},"modified":"2026-06-29T18:49:14","modified_gmt":"2026-06-29T16:49:14","slug":"africa-dominates-world-cup-round-of-32-after-long-term-investment","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/africa-dominates-world-cup-round-of-32-after-long-term-investment\/","title":{"rendered":"Africa dominates World Cup Round of 32 after long-term investment \u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Africa&#8217;s incredible run at the FIFA World Cup is being hailed as proof that pouring money and time into grassroots football actually works.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>In a massive turnaround from 2018, when not a single African team made it past the group stage, an unprecedented nine out of the continent&#8217;s 10 teams have booked their spots in the knockout rounds. This historic rise has completely surpassed other regions like Asia, which only managed to get two teams through to the round of 32.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Former Nigeria captain William Troost-Ekong pointed out that Morocco\u2019s heavy investment in youth academies and proper training structures set a blueprint that the rest of the continent is now successfully following. Football analysts agree that the gamble on better coaching, solid youth systems, and stronger professional domestic leagues is finally paying off on the world\u2019s biggest stage.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&#8211;ChannelAfrica&#8211;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":37711,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[305,20],"class_list":["post-38363","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-special-projects","news-type-sport","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"Long-term investment pays off as Africa dominates World Cup Round of 32","published_date":"2026-06-29 17:50:21","news_description":"Long-term investment pays off as Africa dominates World Cup Round of 32","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/38363","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/38363\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38364,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/38363\/revisions\/38364"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37711"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38363"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=38363"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}