European dominance of the World Cup quarter finalist lineup has renewed questions about the sport’s global development. Asian teams have underperformed, but what about African sides?

While the continent has just one quarter finalist, it is important to note structural differences to Europe. Its best 100 players represent 24 different countries, to Europe’s 20. The countries that produce talent are more changeable too: 9 of the 24 countries didn’t have a player in the Africa top 100 in 2016, compared to 4 of Europe’s 20.

Therefore the most valuable player in an African squad averages 9x the value of the 10th-most valuable player, compared to 6x in European squads. Our analysis shows that imbalanced squads tend to underachieve.

That African teams continue to be more and more competitive despite these structural disadvantages is impressive. As domestic ecosystems develop, expect talent depth to grow, and more teams reaching the quarter finals.