Association football is the most popular sport in nearly every African country, and thirteen members of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) have competed at the sport's biggest event – the men's FIFA World Cup. The highest ranked result in the World Cup for an African team is 4th place in the 2022 FIFA World Cup by Morocco. Overview Bold indicates year(s) of best finish Results Most finishes in the top four Team results by tournament The team ranking in each tournament is according to FIFA. The rankings, apart from the top four positions (top two in 1930), are not a result of direct competition between the teams; instead, teams eliminated in the same round are ranked by their full results in the tournament. For each tournament, the number of teams in each finals tournament (in brackets) are shown. Legend Tournament standings Quarter-finals = knockout round of 8: 1934–1938, 1954–1970, and 1986–present; second group stage, top 8: 1974–1978 Second Round = second group stage, top 12: 1982; knockout round of 16: 1986–present Overall team records As per statistical convention in football, matches decided in extra time are counted as wins and losses, while matches decided by penalty shoot-outs are counted as draws. 3 points per win, 1 point per draw and 0 points per loss. Appearances Ranking of teams by number of appearances Team debuts Not qualified 41 of the 54 active FIFA and CAF members have never qualified for the final tournament. Legend Summary of performance This table shows for each world cup the number of countries at the World Cup, the number of entries (#E) from around the world (including any rejections and withdrawals), the number of African entries (#A), how many of those African entries withdrew (#A-) before/during qualification or were rejected by FIFA, the African representatives at the World Cup finals, the number of World Cup Qualifiers each African representative had to play to get to the World Cup (#WCQ), the furthest stage they reached, their results, and their coaches. Performance at individual World Cups 1930s: Egypt's early appearance The inaugural 1930 FIFA World Cup was the only one without any qualification process. No African teams entered. The Pharaohs of Egypt were the only African team to apply to feature at the 1934 FIFA World Cup. As there were 32 countries competing for 16 places, FIFA organized the first qualification round. Egypt was placed in a