The curse of Africa's champions at the World Cup: Should Senegal be worried?

The World Cup is the grandest stage in football, as the biggest international sides on the planet come together to contest the top prize in the global game.

It stands to reason that Africa’s champions—representing Fifa’s second biggest confederation Caf—should feature for the continent at the tournament, yet the Africa Cup of Nations holders haven’t always been present at the World Cup.

Here’s a look at how some of the reigning African champions have struggled in World Cup qualification.

Egypt won the final Africa Cup of Nations of the last century when they dispatched reigning champions South Africa 2-0 in Burkina Faso, bringing Bafana Bafana crashing down to earth after their fairytale victory two years previously.

However, while Egypt won the continental crown, it would be South Africa who would represent the continent at France ’98, with the Pharaohs having been pipped by Tunisia in qualifying.

It was one of several misses for Egypt during the years between their World Cup performance in 1990 and their return to the top table in 2018, although it wasn’t the most painful…

The 2010 World Cup was a biggie for Africa—the first to be hosted on African soil.

However, the continent’s reigning champions weren’t present, having been eliminated by bitter rivals Algeria during the most remarkable World Cup qualifying series.

Antar Yahia’s goal separated the two teams in their qualifying playoff in Omdurman in November 2009, with the pair having had identical group-stage records during their group stage campaign—thanks to Emad Moateb’s 95th-minute goal in the Cairo clash between the pair.

Egypt—in the midst of their golden era of three consecutive Afcon titles—had missed a glorious opportunity to reach the World Cup, and we’ll never know what this magnificent side could have achieved.

Zambia weren’t reigning African champions by the time the 2014 World Cup rolled around—with Nigeria having clinched the 2013 Afcon as Caf changed the scheduling—but they were unable to build on their magnificent 2012 Nations Cup success.

Zambia had already dropped points against Sudan at home and Lesotho away in their qualifying campaign, but after defeating Ghana in Ndola in June 2012, could still have reached Brazil with victory over the Black Stars in Kumasi in September 2013.

Unfortunately it wasn’t to be, as goals from Waris Majeed and Kwadwo Asamoah sent the Black Stars through to the Third Round.

Three years after winning the Nations Cup with Zambia, Herve Renard oversaw the Cote d’Ivoire’s triumph at the continental high table in Equatorial Guinea.

It was the final hurrah for the vestiges of the Elephants’ Golden Generation, and their ageing legs told in Group C of 2018 World Cup qualifying, as they finished second behind Morocco.

In truth, the Ivorians were well off the pace, with their September 2017 defeat at home by Gabon evidence of a team firmly on the wane.

Cameroon replaced the Ivory Coast as African champions in 2017, defeating Egypt in the final after squeezing past Ghana in the semi-final.

By this point, their World Cup campaign had started slowly—with draws against Algeria and Zambia—but things became much bleaker in September 2017 when they were thumped 4-0 by Nigeria, in what was perhaps the best performance of Gernot Rohr’s tenure as Super Eagles head coach.

That defeat in Uyo proved fatal for Cameroon, even if they restored a measure of pride with a 2-0 victory over Algeria in Yaounde a month later.

Senegal finally got their hands on the first Africa Cup of Nations title in their history when they dispatched Egypt on penalties in the final in Cameroon last month.

As memorable as that victory was, it’s imperative the Teranga Lions follow it up with World Cup qualification, and the opportunity to represent the continent—as Africa’s champions—in Qatar.

Senegal are eyeing back-to-back qualification for the World Cup for the first time in their history, having been eliminated in the group stage in 2018, and failure in their playoff against Egypt would represent a major setback in the progress enjoyed under Aliou Cisse.