Brazilian forward Neymar Jr. believes African countries have faced challenges in winning the FIFA World Cup because their players don't put in the effort as they do for their club teams.

According to the Paris Saint-Germain star, African players often lack the same level of passion when representing their countries on the global stage, unlike their South American players.

While acknowledging that Africa produces some of the world's finest talents, Neymar Jr. suggested that these players do not exhibit the same enthusiasm when wearing their national team jerseys.

He said, "Africa does not win a World Cup because African players play for Europe. It's different with us Brazil, no matter where we are trained we prefer to defend the jersey of our country."

"African players have talent, but they don't show it for their national teams. African players don't have much passion to represent their countries like South Americans, that's why Brazil has 5 World Cups," he said as quoted by FirstMag LeVrai.

Historically, the best performance by an African country in the World Cup has been reaching the semi-finals, achieved by Morocco in the 2022 tournament.

Other countries like Ghana, Senegal, and Cameroon have come close to success by reaching the quarter-finals.

JNA/FNOQ