(Photo: FIFA World Cup)
Tadias Magazine
By Tadias Staff
Published: Monday, October 28th, 2013
New York (TADIAS) — Today FIFA, the governing body that organizes the World Cup, counts 54 countries hailing from Africa. From Tunsia to South Africa and from Nigeria to Ethiopia, soccer is by far the most popular sport in the continent. Yet, when it comes to representation at World Cup competitions, Africa has been shortchanged by FIFA ever since the first World Cup was held in the 1930s without any African participation. Granted that was 83 years ago when most of the continent was still under the yoke of colonialism, but does it make sense that in 2013 Europe has 13 slots reserved, while out of the 53 African nations that took part in the preliminary competitions only five will make the cut for Brazil next year?
The current President of FIFA, Sepp Blatter, does not think so. “This flawed state of affairs must be rectified,” Blatter said in a recent letter published in the organization’s weekly magazine. “Africa, the confederation with the most member associations (54), is woefully under-represented at the World Cup.” He added: “As long as this remains the case African sides may never win an intercontinental trophy, regardless of progress on the playing side…At the end of the day an equal chance for all is the paramount imperative of elite sport.”
Historically only 13 African teams have made it to the World Cup in the last eight decades: Cameroon (6 times), Morocco (4 times), Tunisia (4 times), Nigeria (4 times), Algeria (3 times), South Africa (3 times), Egypt (twice), Ghana (twice), Ivory Coast (twice), Zaire, Senega1, Angola and Togo (once each).
At the moment, however, the top ten teams battling it out for the limited prime spots at the globe’s most popular sporting event include: Ethiopia, Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Algeria, Senegal, Tunisia, Cameroon, Ghana, and Egypt. We will know the top five finishers by the end of November.
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Related:
Africa under-represented at World Cup – Blatter (BBC News)
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