Head coach of Morocco Walid Regragui said he believes an African team will win the World Cup in the next 15 to 20 years as his team finished fourth in Qatar, reports AP.

The Atlas Lions became the first African World Cup semi-finalists in history and won the hearts of the football-lovers across the world despite their deafeat on Saturday's third place play-off by 2-1 against 2018 runners-up Croatia.

"With nine participants, we're going to learn. In 15, 20 years, I'm sure an African team will win the World Cup because we'll have learned," said Regragui.

"We have a stage to get past. We need to build on that, with hard work and desire. This DNA is not just being built for Morocco, but for the continent."

Morocco finished top of a group including Croatia and Belgium, who came third at the 2018 World Cup, before knocking out Spain and Portugal to reach the last four.

Their run was ended in the semi-finals by defending champions France, but Regragui has urged his players to back up their historic display by winning next year's Africa Cup of Nations.

"I said to the players in the changing room, if you want to go down in history then you're going to have to win the Africa Cup of Nations," said Regragui.

"Of course we have the objective of winning the World Cup one day. There's going to be more pressure on us going forward and hopefully there will be more African teams following our example,” he added.

Bd-pratidin English/Lutful Hoque