Will a biennial World Cup be good for Africa? - Some say it will bring more funds and other development opportunities to football on the continent, but others remain sceptical and deeply suspicious of Fifa’s true motives.
If anything has defined the landscape of world football in 2021, it has been the desire to shift from the traditional to a new order of competition. In April, European football was hit with the unexpected, if not exactly unprecedented, news that a number of its most influential clubs had signed up for a splinter Super League. While fierce public backlash saw nine of the founding members back down from the idea, the stage was set for a year of upheaval.
The proposal was met with mixed reaction. While Europe and South America largely derided the idea, member associations from Africa came out in favour of it. North American and Asian football confederations said a feasibility study should be undertaken. In total, 166 out of the 211 member associations were in favour of looking into the possibility, threatening a split in international football.
There are more specific African concerns, too. The impact of a biennial World Cup on the Africa Cup of Nations would be largely detrimental, especially since it is held biennially and has its own qualification process. How would such an upheaval to the calendar affect African football? “There is bound to be progress and improvements every year in football,” he said. “But in my opinion, I think it would be too stressful, too much for the players. The players are going to suffer for it because even now there are too many matches. And looking at Africa in relation to Europe and other continents and their level they are at with welfare and technology and taking care of injuries, we are not yet there. It is going to be very difficult.
“There are several upsides to the biennial World Cup, particularly for Africa, but also for other continents that aren’t Europe,” he said. “You have to look at what the current situation is. Right now, most of the money in football is generated in Europe, not in other continents. CAF has to look at this and say, look, how can we generate more funds? The biennial World Cup offers them that opportunity to generate more funds to run football on the continent.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
The world is in the same Covid boat - so why is Africa the scapegoat?Declaring a premature victory against Covid based on high vaccination rates in a few privileged countries was pure idiocy, but great populist politics.
Read more »
WEBINAR | Mapping Africa-China relations in a post-Covid worldSPONSORED | Join our next Business Day Dialogue with the Chinese embassy in SA on December 8 at 10am for a discussion on Africa-China relations post-Covid, moderated by TimesLIVE political analyst Eusebius McKaiser. Register at the link below.
Read more »
Bafana vs Ghana: Tension continues to simmer over Fifa's World Cup decisionSA Football Association (Safa) CEO Tebogo Motlanthe has revealed that he personally called Ghana FA general secretary Prosper Harrison Addo to seek clarity after disparaging quotes attributed to the West African official emerged at the weekend.
Read more »
Bafana vs Ghana: Tension continues to simmer over Fifa's World Cup decisionSA Football Association (Safa) CEO Tebogo Motlanthe has revealed that he personally called Ghana FA general secretary Prosper Harrison Addo to seek clarity after disparaging quotes attributed to the West African official emerged at the weekend.
Read more »
Bafana vs Ghana: Tension continues to simmer over Fifa's World Cup decisionSA Football Association (Safa) CEO Tebogo Motlanthe has revealed that he personally called Ghana FA general secretary Prosper Harrison Addo to seek clarity after disparaging quotes attributed to the West African official emerged at the weekend.
Read more »
Tension still simmers over Fifa’s Bafana World Cup decisionSafa awaits world governing body’s reasons for the dismissal of its complaint
Read more »