Former Super Eagles captain and manager Sunday Oliseh has praised Africa's showing at the expanded FIFA World Cup, while singling out Cape Verde for special commendation following their disciplined and organised display against Spain.
Oliseh, speaking on Global Football Insights, reflected on Africa’s 10 representatives at the tournament, noting both encouraging progress and lingering structural concerns in global representation.
“Let nobody be deceived. Us having a continent having 10 representatives is no favor at all because when you look at it by population wise we are a continent that's over 1.4 billion people,” Oliseh said on Global Football Insights with Oliseh.
“So we deserve to have if in relation to population we deserve to have 10. And in fact if you look at it the Europeans have 16 representatives at the World Cup and Europe is just 700 and something million people. So you see it's not democratic enough.”
Oliseh argued that Africa’s allocation does not reflect its population size, insisting that the continent deserves greater representation compared to Europe, which currently receives more slots despite having a significantly smaller population base.
Turning his attention to on-field performances, Oliseh assessed Africa’s start at the tournament as largely positive, with several teams delivering encouraging results despite tough opposition.
“So far this is just now we're just getting it right. 10 of our nations have played and from the 10 nations that have played from Africa, six of them have gotten positive results and four got negative results.
”Six out of 10 is not bad at the moment. So for that reason, I think that we've done well so far. Now your question, what nation has impressed me the most? For me, I have totally become a Cape Verde fan. I'm thinking of even buying I'm thinking of buying a ticket to go to visit the country once,” he said.
Oliseh reserved special praise for Cape Verde, describing their tactical organisation and collective discipline as standout qualities against elite opposition such as Spain.
He suggested their approach reflects long-term planning and strong team structure, rather than individual brilliance alone.
"Because it's the way they played the organization. This is not this is something that had been worked upon and what I had felt when I went to the Afcon was that they they intentionally did not come to the Afcon. This is a country with 600 600,000 people as population.
” And so for that reason they have to they act like and the goalkeeper who's now become a hero 40 years old. So if you look at it, Cape Verde has really impressed because not only they played against the best, the most organized team at the World Cup Spain and they were able they brought out everything African," Oliseh added.
Cape Verde’s performance has drawn widespread attention as one of the tournament’s emerging success stories, with their resilience and tactical maturity earning admiration beyond expectations.
Wale Adejumo
Discussions (0)