7 nations represented 

©TM/IMAGO

The 2026 World Cup is underway and a record number of African nations are participating in North America this summer. Due to the expanded 48-nation tournament, ten African teams will be targeting glory in the United States, Mexico and Canada. Morocco made history at the last World Cup in Qatar when they became the first African nation to reach the semi-finals, losing 2-0 to France.

Algeria, Cape Verde, Ivory Coast, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Ghana, Morocco, Senegal, South Africa and Tunisia are the ten African nations participating this summer. Senegal won the African Cup of Nations in January – before it was awarded to Morocco – and they are the second most valuable African Nation at the World Cup with a squad value of €478 million. Ivory Coast occupy top spot at €522m but who are the most valuable African players at the World Cup? We’ve provided the top twenty stars!

The top twenty most valuable players at the World Cup

Yan Diomande has enjoyed a phenomenal breakthrough season at RB Leipzig to earn the reputation as one of the most exciting youngsters on the planet. The 19-year-old is the fourth most valuable U21 player at the World Cup and his valuation of €90m is the highest of any African player at the tournament. As the graphic below illustrates, Antonine Semenyo and Achraf Hakimi are joint-second most valuable at €80m with the Ghanaian attacker ranked higher due to Transfermarkt’s policy of ranking by youngest first.

Everton attacker Iliman Ndiaye and Lille wonderkid Ayyoub Bouaddi complete the top five. French-born Bouaddi played for the country of his birth’s U21s until recently opted to switch allegiances to Morocco ahead of the tournament. The most valuable star from Egypt is Omar Marmoush and Ibrahim Maza holds that accolade for Algeria with the Bayer Leverkusen one to watch. In total seven of the African participants are featured in the list with Sunderland’s Noah Sadiki representing DR Congo.