‘We have no inferiority complex’ – Aliou Cisse predicts an African team winning the World Cup

Senegal coach Aliou Cisse is confident that an African team will someday win the Fifa World Cup.

Since the competition’s launch 88 years old, no Africa team has won the title- with the continent’s best performance being a quarter-final finish in 1990 (Cameroon), 2002 (Senegal) and 2010 (Ghana).

Answering questions from journalists in a press conference ahead of his side’s 2018 World Cup opener against Poland, the 42-year-old claims that antecedents of African teams in the championship are indicators that they will someday break the jinx.

"I have the certainty that one day an African country will win the World Cup, But some 20-25 years ago, African teams came just to be a part of the World Cup,” Cisse told media.

“Things have developed now. You'll remember in 2002, Senegal, Nigeria, we've shown that we can do much more, we can participate and have excellent results, we just need to go to the next phase.

“It takes time, we have realities that aren’t there is on other continents, But we have a lot of quality and I'm sure that one day, African teams will be able to win tournaments like Brazil and Germany.

“We have no inferiority complex with European countries; you see lots of Africa players at major clubs.”

Nigeria, Senegal, Morocco, Tunisia and Egypt are Africa’s representatives in the 2018 edition holding Russia – and they would be expected to break the age-long curse.

The Super Eagles are zoned in Group D against Argentina, Iceland and Croatia, with Tunisia needing to get past Belgium, Panama and England in Group G for a place in the Round of 16.

Morocco are zoned in Group B alongside Iran, Portugal and Spain as Egypt try hosts, Russia, Saudi Arabia and Uruguay for size in Group A.

For the Teranga Lions, they would be hoping to make their second appearance memorable but first, must navigate past Poland, Colombia and Japan in Group H.