Senegal fair play exit ensures no African presence in World Cup´s last 16

The World Cup’s round of 16 will feature zero African teams for the first time.

Senegal were the last African nation to be eliminated from Russia 2018 on Thursday, missing out on a place in Group H’s top two to Japan due to an inferior fair play record.

Not only did Senegal become the first team to be knocked out by the newly introduced method, their 1-0 loss to Colombia ended Africa’s participation in the tournament.

At every World Cup since the introduction of the last-16 stage in 1982, at least one team from the continent has qualified from the group stage.

1982 – An African team haven’t progressed the first group stage in a #WorldCup for the first time since 1982. Regenerate pic.twitter.com/oxUJ3EybVV

— OptaJose (@OptaJose) June 28, 2018

European teams dominate the line-up for the second round, with 10 of the remaining 16 nations in the competition playing in the UEFA region.

South America has provided four qualifiers from the group stage, with five-time winners Brazil, Argentina, Colombia and Uruguay all still in the tournament.

Japan are Asia’s sole representative, while Mexico are the only team left from the CONCACAF nations who made it to Russia 2018.

1st / 2nd

UEFA /
CONMEBOL /
CONCACAF 
AFC 
CAF#FifaWorldCup18

— David Wall (@1DavidWall) June 28, 2018