Senegal Captain Kalidou Koulibaly Believes an African Country Can Win the 2022 FIFA World Cup

• Kalidou Koulibaly is confident an African country can shock the world by winning the World Cup in Qatar
• The African champions tipped to do well at the competition have been drawn in Group A alongside Qatar, the Netherlands and Ecuador
• Senegal are one of the three countries in Africa to have ever reached the quarter-finals of the global showpiece

Chelsea defender Kalidou Koulibaly believes the time for an African country to win the FIFA World Cup is now as Senegal prepare for the tournament in November and December with friendlies against Bolivia and Iran.

The African champions are in Orleans, France preparing for their friendly against Bolivia on Saturday.

Koulibaly, who was a member of the Senegal team that disappointingly exited the 2018 FIFA World Cup at the group stage, is confident of Africa's chances at the Mundial in Qatar.

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"We still remember the 2018 World Cup because we could have done better, we failed to qualify from the group stage and I was very sad about going home that early," Koulibaly told BBC Sport Africa TV.

"It is going to be even more difficult for us now we are the African champions because all the teams will be careful [when playing against us] and for me I think it is time an African country delivers and wins the World Cup because we are a very determined continent."

Africa will be represented by Cameroon, Ghana, Morocco, Tunisia and the Teranga Lions in Qatar.

The best performance by an African team was when Cameroon, Senegal and Ghana reached the last eight at the 1990, 2002 and 2010 World Cup respectively.

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Senegal players arrive in France ahead of Bolivia and Iran friendlies

Earlier, Sports Brief reported that African champions, Senegal, have started training ahead of their international friendlies later this week against Bolivia and Iran in France.

The players arrived in Orleans, France on Monday afternoon as preparations begin for the final international break before the World Cup in Qatar.

In a video posted on Twitter, the players including new members of the team were seen trooping to their base in Orleans.