The 2026 FIFA World Cup started last week and we have felt the joy of it… At this year’s World Cup, there are a record 48 teams, as opposed to the past 32, and 10 countries representing the continent, an increase from the past 5. The 10 countries representing Africa at the World Cup are: Algeria (The Fennecs), Cape Verde (The Blue Sharks), DR Congo (The Leopards), Ghana (The Black Stars), Egypt (The Pharaohs), Ivory Coast (The Elephants), Morocco (The Atlas Lions), Senegal (The Lions of Teranga), South Africa (Bafana Bafana), and Tunisia (The Eagles of Carthage). All teams have played their first games, and so far Cape Verde has wowed the public with a draw against the mighty Spain (0 – 0), Morocco has also pulled a draw against Brazil (1 – 1), Egypt against Belgium (1 – 1), DR Congo returning 52 years after being the first African nation at a World Cup also pulled a draw against Portugal of Cristiano Ronaldo (1 – 1); Ivory Coast won their first game against Ecuador (1 – 0), while Ghana defeated Panama (1 – 0); South Africa lost against Mexico during the opening game (2 – 0), Senegal lost against the vice-champion France (3 – 1), Algeria against champion Argentina (3 – 0), and Tunisia against Sweden (5 – 1). There are still 2 games to make it to the qualifying rounds, and we pray that African teams make us proud.

At this World Cup, we have also felt the pains of it. Yes, there is pain! The tickets are extremely expensive, it is said that they are at least 7 times higher than tickets were at the World Cup in Qatar 4 years ago. Then there are the visa issues which we hear about now. For many Africans there is a $15,000 deposit fee for a tourist/business visa! Can you imagine? Who has $15,000 laying around? And what is the procedure for one to recover that money upon returning home? From my experience with anything, once people take your money, there is always a delay in refunding money which may take days: is it the case here? The US government imposed a visa bond fee on 50 countries said to have high overstays… guess how many of those 50 countries are in Africa?  33 African countries! Thus, we have seen the superb Cape Verdean goalkeeper Vozinha in tears at the end of his game since his mother could not get a visa to watch him play for lack of money; this has since been remedied as US representative Hakeem Jeffries (who has some Cape-Verdean heritage) called on Secretary of State Marco Rubio and now Vozinha‘s mother will be able to watch her son play.

This brings us back to articles we wrote a few years back about the fact that African passports in general are weak passports even within Africa, meaning that an American or a German could visit almost 172 countries out of the world’s 192 without needing a visa while most Africans have to pay for visa to visit almost every single country on earth, and there is no guarantee to obtaining the visa. The Power of the Passport: Discrimination against Third-World Countries? Tourism in Africa: The Difficulty for Africans to obtain Visas in Africa to Visit African Countries

In view of this, my question is to us Africans, why don’t we apply reciprocity? Why do we have to be humiliated paying hefty fees, while the others can just waltz in our countries? and call us persona non grata in their countries while they make billions in ours? Do you remember how last October, Mali got the US to scrap the visa bond when they reciprocated with a similar visa bond for US citizens? “This is not about confrontation; it’s about respect,” a senior Malian foreign affairs official stated “If a Malian citizen must pay a bond to visit the U.S., then so must an American to visit Mali. Reciprocity is a cornerstone of equal partnership.” Indeed, this is the era of equal partnership, and dignity. We can no longer be humiliated to no end. Such an approach should not just applied to visa bond, but to the visa process and applications as a whole! and further to resources and negotiations!