Africa’s representation in the 2010 World Cup, to be staged in South Africa, looks endangered, with world governing body Fifa likely to reduce the number of the continent’s qualifying participants from five to four.
Two years ago, Fifa’s executive committee concluded that future demands for more representation would be based on results, with the rule being ‘the worse the results, the fewer the participantsâ€.
This principle, it was agreed, would come into effect during the current tournament in Germany.
With four of Africa’s five representatives losing their opening matches, and the chances of any progresssing to the next round looking remote, it seems likely that when the Fifa executive committee convenes after the World Cup to take stock Africa’s representation will be reduced.
Although Fifa spokesperson Andreas Herren would not categorically confirm to the Mail & Guardian this week that Africa’s numbers would suffer, he said a clearer picture of the allocation of places for the next tournament will emerge once the executive committee has looked at all the facts of the current tournament.
If one African team manages to proceed to the knockout stages the number of participants from the continent in 2010 will effectively increase to six — five through qualification and South Africa as hosts.
But it is more likely that Africa’s loss will be Asia’s gain. Since South Korea made the semifinals in 2002, Asia has been clamouring for more participants.
This will be a big blow for Sepp Blatter, who since his assumption of the Fifa presidency has campaigned first for the tournament to be staged in Africa, and since then for the continent to have a greater number of participants.
Blatter has been one of the few voices in Fifa to argue that Africa’s chances of winning the cup will always be at a disadvantage because of numerical imbalances between Africa and Europe.
While most of the African countries have performed well on the field in Germany, a good fight is always going to be the one that is won. So far African teams are not winning.