The Greedy Wolf

Europe alone has 13 (+1) spots and Africa just 5 in the World Cup. The idea that because European teams (UEFA) rank higher in FIFA Rankings they must be granted more spots in the FIFA World Cup Festival is an unfair idea. Exactly because the rankings themselves are FIFA’s! Worse, it is European greed.

The rest of the world that also plays the game, albeit without Europe’s monied funfair, is entitled to plenty more than just a few spots in a festival that wants to be regarded as truly global.

A few words about FIFA’s troublesome rankings. Every continent has competitions. But Europe alone has 10,000 tournaments (literally) where their players get all the exposure, even from playing “bought” talented African players on and off the pitch. Yaya Touré, for instance, a world class midfielder from the Ivory Coast, did nothing else last season in the British Premier League, except to warm the bench and enrich the skills of De Bryune (Belgium) and Aguero (Argentina) at training. The list here is endless. Heck, Europeans have control of world resources enough to be able to fund all this entertainment and free transfer of hard earned African skills. But to turn around and say African teams are weaker for it is odd.

These African players are right there making these European teams stronger and stronger each year. What? Like Lukaku is from Belgium? Like Pogba and Kante are French? Like the French, and not the African Union, defeated Iceland in the last European Cup? To punish other confederations, the African Federation in particular, to only 5 spots while Europe spots 13 of those, in a tournament that FIFA wants to be regarded as global is a bit rich, or dare I say, greedy.

If it’s all about the money then stop making the case that it is a true world event. For it is not. It does not look or feel like it. The FIFA world cup feels European. All in the name of a meritocratic FIFA ranking? So Poland ranks like number 8 and Senegal like 27? Like Czech Republic ranked 2 and Ghana like 50 back in 2006? It is fraudulent!

When you begin to look at the rankings and its disingeniousness, together with the oversized exposure European players get because of their money and control over world resources, I see FIFA only making European soccer markets more and more money so they can have better and better leagues, than say Africa. And then to use that ranking to further punish other federations. It’s a vicious cycle for everyone but European teams and to a lesser extent the “favored” South American teams, including the USA.

 

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~ Success is a horrible teacher. It seduces the ignorant into thinking that he can’t lose. It seduces the intellectual into thinking that he must win. Success corrupts; Only usefulness exalts. ~ WP. Narmer Amenuti (which names translate: Dances With Lions), was born by The River, deep within the heartlands of Ghana, in Ntoaboma. He is a public intellectual from the Sankoré School of Critical Theory, where he trained and was awarded the highest degree of Warrior Philosopher at the Temple of Narmer. As a Culture Critic and a Guan Rhythmmaker, he is a dilettante, a dissident and a gadfly, and he eschews promotional intellectualism. He maintains strict anonymity and invites intellectuals and lay people alike to honest debate. He reads every comment. If you enjoyed this essay and would like to support more content like this one, please pour the Ancestors some Libation in support of my next essay, or you can go bold, very bold and invoke them. Here's my CashApp: $TheRealNarmer

3 COMMENTS

  1. Then KN helps lose the shine even more…Is this a FiFA case or one of incompetence… I mean, KN (again), Hayatou(?). Sierra Leone FA is busy fighting for 3+ years without actually organizing a league!

  2. Agreed 100 percent. The FIFA cup is always the European championships with a side of Brazil and Argentina (these teams are now white too). I think the solution is a Pan African World Cup where all black teams will actually get their fair shake like African teams, Jamaica, Trinidad, Haiti, etc.

  3. There’s a case there to be made, Nye Bro. Eyram. Although Hayatou is an employee, not the employer. And I don’t actually like Hayatou. What case does anyone have when his employer insists that Hayatou is great? FIFA remains a private corporation with the goal of remaining a global corp.

    This is where my problem arises with them: They seek to win the trust of all soccer fans the world over.

    But for those of us in Ntoaboma, we see a multinational with horns fattened on African and Latin America largess, but with a mouth that spouts the idea that nowhere else but in the European academy is soccer possible.

    FIFA and its CAF tentacle have reduced the Beautiful Game to a matter of business. And since it is a matter of business, Issa Hayatou and Nyantekyi, for example, are replete with the worst business practices! Africa suffers as a result, and not for the want of talent, or African suffers not because it cannot outplay others at the Beautiful Game.

    Now, to the bigger point: Why would anyone, outside of Europe, want to see England, Ireland and Germany in the same tournament? But FIFA likes that simply because those fans have more spending power put together than for say Germany, Ghana, Ecuador put together!

    My point is: If the world cup is a matter of business, then it must stop lying that it is a truly global festival. It is not. It is very European!

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