of 16 for the 3rd time in its history of participations 2014: Algeria, first African team to score four goals in one match, in the 4–2 win against South Korea 2014: Stephen Keshi of Nigeria, first African coach to reach round of 16 2018: Essam El-Hadary of Egypt, the oldest player and captain in the history of the World Cup Finals, aged 45 years and 161 days, against Saudi Arabia. 2018: Essam El-Hadary of Egypt, first African Goalkeeper to save a penalty at the World Cup Finals. 2018: Senegal, first team to be eliminated due to the fair play points tiebreaker. 2018: Sofyan Amrabat of Morocco, who came on as a substitute for his brother Nordin Amrabat in the 76th minute in the group match against Iran, is the first player in World Cup history to come in for his brother. 2022: Walid Regragui of Morocco, first African coach to reach quarter-finals 2022: Morocco, first African team to reach semi-finals. 2022: Walid Regragui of Morocco, first African coach to reach semi-finals World Cup Qualifiers 1978 WCQ: Tunisia, first African team to use penalties in World Cup Qualification, beating Morocco 4–2 on penalties after a 1–1 draw. 2002 WCQ: Abdul Hamid Bassiouny of Egypt, the fastest-ever hat-trick in an "A" international, scored a hat-trick in 177 seconds against Namibia in Alexandria on 13 July 2001 during an 8–2 win by Egypt. 2010 WCQ: Algeria, most matches played by an African team to qualify for the World Cup Finals, 13 matches See also Football in Africa FIFA World Cup records and statistics Notes References External links FIFA Fact Sheet: History of the FIFA World Cup (TM) Preliminary Competition (by year) (44 page PDF document) Association football in Africa FIFA World Cup records and statistics