Africa is the second most-populated continent and a place where football is king, 

has still to produce a team to advance beyond the quarter-finals - let alone lift 

the gold trophy.

At this year Tournament in Russia Egypt, Morocco, Nigeria, Senegal, and Tunisia will 

compete in Russia later this month - but few believe they will get near the final.

The three teams to make the quarter-finals - Cameroon (1990), Senegal (2002) and 

Ghana (2010) - have come from sub-Saharan Africa. But in Russia, there will be more

teams from the north than elsewhere on the continent, including a first appearance in

28 years for Egypt and a return after 20 years for Morocco.

A number of North African countries have players who learned their trade at 

academies in Europe, but it is Morocco who arrives at this World Cup with the most 

foreign-born players - seventeen of their 23-man squad were born outside the 

country.

AFRICA LACK OF HOMEGROWN NATIONAL MANAGERS 

Of the 44 occasions, African teams have competed at the World Cup come Russia 2018,

30 will have been managed by a non-African.

Cameroon, who as seven-time qualifiers are Africa's most successful World Cup 

nation, have been led by four Frenchmen, two Germans and one Russian at the 

tournament.