Senegal fair play exit ensures no African presence in World Cup's last 16

The World Cup's round of 16 will feature zero African teams for the first time.

Senegal was the last African nation to be eliminated from Russia 2018 on Thursday, missing out on a place in Group H's top two to Japan due to an inferior fair play record.

Not only did Senegal become the first team to be knocked out by the newly introduced method, their 1-0 loss to Colombia ended Africa's participation in the tournament.

At every World Cup since the introduction of the last-16 stage in 1982, at least one team from the continent has qualified from the group stage.

European teams dominate the line-up for the second round, with 10 of the remaining 16 nations in the competition playing in the UEFA region.

South America has provided four qualifiers from the group stage, with five-time winners Brazil, Argentina, Colombia and Uruguay all still in the tournament.

Japan is Asia's sole representative, while Mexico is the only team left from the CONCACAF nations who made it to Russia 2018.