Shifting tides in World Cup Football

Fri, Jul 04, 2014

From all reports, and television evidence, this 2014 World Cup Football competition is ranked among the best of all times. In addition to the quality of the football, the sheer competitiveness is gripping even those remotely attracted to the games. In spite of the eight group-winners making it to the quarter-final stages, the closeness of the games has provided a keen sense of rivalry and, increasingly, a feeling that a team which originally was not considered a frontrunner, may well end up as champion.{{more}}

Typically, the latter stages of the competition have been dominated by the perennial “big teams” from Europe and South America. Indeed no team from any other region has been fortunate enough to lift the Jules Rimet trophy, that most coveted of all international sporting trophies. In spite of the expansion of the final stages to encompass more teams from the non-traditional areas, the glory of World Cup victory is still confined, after 84 years, to an elite group of five – Uruguay, Germany, Italy, Brazil, England and Argentina.

The 2014 final stages have revealed some new challenges. From the initial 32 countries in the group stages, teams from Africa and the CONCACAF region have made their mark. The traditional “giants” of South America and Europe still predominate, but they have had to fight to the bitter end to earn those places. Thus while among them, 11 of the sixteen qualifiers were from Europe and South America, the proportions, in relation to numbers who competed, reflect a different story.

Three of the four CONCACAF qualifiers, Costa Rica, Mexico and the USA, made it to the last sixteen, with two of them only just being edged out. By contrast, the much-heralded European region could only place 6 of 13 qualifiers, Africa two of five, and Asia none of the four.

It raises questions about what seems to be a continuing bias in the allocation of finals places to the benefit of European teams. This is an historic legacy as much in the world of football as it is in financial, economic and political bodies on a global scale. The world has not only changed but continues to do so, and global organizations must reflect those realities.

As we cross fingers and pray for more CONCACAF success in the final rounds, we must nevertheless be proud of our hemispheric achievements. Not even the limitations of resources, human as well as financial, can hide the fact that we are real competitors.