"Civilisations are complex things. For centuries they can flourish in a sweet spot of power and prosperity. But then, often quite suddenly, they can tip over the edge into chaos."
Niall Ferguson, 2012
Greetings. The dry (some of you call it summer) season of 2021 is set to serve up a platter of sports festivities. The postponed European Football Championships, the 2021 Copa America, the Tokyo Olympics, as well as the annual events from the tennis, golf, formula 1 and MotoGP calendars that occur during this period.
UEFA's quadrennial showpiece has hogged the majority of the media attention. By contrast, little attention has been paid to the on-going Copa America, the holy grail of South American football taking place in Brazil. the final games for both events take place on Sunday, featuring nations that have won the World Cup a combined 12 times! Arguably one of the best football payers of all time will feature in the Copa America, but media attention will mainly focus on Wembley for the European showpiece. This follows the precedent set by European club football, which has dwarfed the club tournaments from other corners of the world. Does this period herald the triumph of European football over the rest (and in particular the South Americans)? And where does this leave Africa?
Prior to 1930, the football competition at the Olympics was the sport's biggest prize. Despite the Europeans winning four of the first five tournaments, the South Americans dominated the last two events before the inaugural World Cup; with Uruguay winning back-to-back gold in 1924 and 1928, including an all-South American final in the latter.
In 1928, FIFA decided to host an international football tournament. Given that Europe was severely hit by the Great Depression, the organisation sought to host the tournament on another continent. Uruguay, which had won the Olympic gold in football twice and was planning to celebrate its independence centennial, was chosen as the maiden host. Travelling to Uruguay at the time was only possible by sea, and several European clubs were unwilling to release their players for the two-month sojourn. Only four European countries committed to partake in the tournament. In a repeat of the Olympic final from two years earlier, Uruguay triumphed over Argentina.
International travel again limited the participation of South American teams at the 1934 tournament, held in Italy. With the reigning champions boycotting the tournament, Argentina, Brazil and Egypt – Africa's first ever representative – were the only non-European participants in the 16-team event. Italy emerged victorious, and successfully defended their title four years later in France.
The political and economic turmoil caused by the second World War meant the tournament took a hiatus during the 1940s, only returning in 1950 hosted by Brazil and won by Uruguay, and four years later West Germany won their first title in Switzerland. At this point European teams had won 3 out of 3 tournaments held on European soil, and the Uruguayans had won both tournaments held on South American soil. At the 1958 showpiece hosted in Sweden, Brazil became the first non-European team to win the tournament on European soil, spurred on by a young Pele. In the four tournaments held between 1958 and 1970, Brazil won three across three different continents (Sweden '58, Chile '62 and Mexico '70), their sole blemish being the 1966 event won by the English on home soil. The South American nations had entrenched their brand of football as the finest in the World, even dominating their European counterparts in the annual Intercontinental Cup. The tournament played between the club football champions of Europe and South America saw the clubs from the latter win 6 of the first 10 editions.
At the 2002 World Cup, hosted in Japan and South Korea, Brazil emerged victorious on Asian soil, claiming their fifth tournament win and the fourth different continent on which they had won football's greatest showpiece. The tally of tournament victories stood at 9-8, advantage to the South American nations over their European rivals. Unbeknownst to the South Americans, this would be the last time a team from Europe would fail to lift the Jules Rimet trophy.
Being on the backfoot is an all too familiar scenario for European cultures. Proponents of Afrocentrism and Oriental Philosophy always point out the superiority of their ancient cultures over the European systems. What we forget to explore is Europe's persistence in overcoming its disadvantageous position and surpassing its superior rivals. Fortunately, Niall Ferguson, the self-proclaimed "international man of history" chronicles the rise of Western Civilisation – with Europe at the centre – towards global dominance, in his 2006 book, Civilisation.
Ferguson does acknowledge that Europe 500 years ago was a "miserable backwater … plagued by bad sanitation and seemingly incessant war." By comparison, the Ottoman Empire and the Chinese kingdom were far better. He posits that Europe advanced on the back of six factors, key among these being competition. The European nation states were trapped in constant war with one another as well as internal civil strife. This perennial state of conflict provide benefits in the form of innovation in military technology, and the fact that rival states grew progressively better at raising revenue for their campaigns.
To apply this to the state of national team football, there are ten countries in South America compared to over fifty in Europe. The Copa America is usually a 12-team tournament, meaning there is no need for a qualifying session as the confederation is always tasked with inviting two foreign teams to partake in the tournament. By comparison, the European competition in it's 60-year history, accepted only 8 teams in the finals tournament for 9 of the 16 editions it has been running for. The limited number of slots has fostered competition amongst the nations. The Europeans have had to be innovative in raising revenue for their football systems, investing in youth academies, revolutionising coaching and investing in stadium infrastructure. Absence of competition has stifled football innovation in South America, and the lack of revenue has meant their best players have had to ply their trade in Europe.
In economic terms, four of the seven largest economies in the world (G7) are located in Europe, and three of these four have gone on to lift the World Cup on three of the last four tournaments. The four World Cups held after the 2002 showpiece have all been won by European countries, having been hosted in Europe on two occasions (2006 and 2018), South America (2014) and Africa (2010). This run has included a first-time winner (Spain in 2010), three all-European finals (2006, 2010 and 2018) and two occasions where all four semi-finalists were European sides (2006 and 2018). In the same period, the South Americans have only managed one runner's up spot (2014) and on two occasions the continent had no representative at the semi-final stage of the competition (2006 and 2018).
Of the 21 editions held for the World Cup, Africa has had at least a representative on 14 occasions, and for the 6 tournaments held from 1998 onwards the continent was guaranteed 5 qualifying spots (in 2010 South Africa took the sixth slot as hosts). The 5 slots available are competed for by the 53 countries.
In contrast with the benefits of competition in Europe, the African nations have never progressed beyond the Quarterfinal stage. At every World Cup between 1986 and 2014, an African nation made the second round, with three of those occasions producing a quarterfinal representative. However, in 2018 there was no African nation in the knockout stage, despite fielding Senegal (quarterfinalists in 2002), Nigeria (who've made the knockouts on 3 previous occasions), Morocco (who made the knockouts in 1986), Tunisia and Egypt (seven-time winners of the African Cup).
In terms of resources and stadium infrastructure, Africa lags behind the European and South American counterparts. However, in terms of sports administration, the African and Latin American teams are in the same boat. In the political arena, the two continents have been marred by leaders who stay-in-power for long while overseeing patronage and corruption, and often power changes by military means if not dynastic succession. The football governing bodies on the two continents are not that different. Just last month the football governing body in Uganda okayed the incumbent president to contest for a third term in office, despite being involved in the 2014 World Cup ticket scandal. The 2015 FBI investigation snared 13 officials from South American football bodies, more than any other continent. Other scandals involving football administrators on both continents have involved sexual misconduct and player trafficking!
Football governors in the two continents are motivated by personal interests at the expense of the players' welfare. There is limited facilitation available to these players compared to their European counterparts, and the huge salaries and endorsement deals accrued playing in Europe raises the opportunity cost of opting for national duty.
Irrespective of how skilled the players are in Africa and South America, as long as their incomes are meagre and their sports governance lags behind, Europe will always emerge victorious. It seems the European football civilisation will not "tip over the edge into chaos", in contrast to Ferguson's opening quote.
The Euro has proven to be a good indicator of which nation will win the next World Cup; the four most recent World Cup winners had made it to the semi-final stage of the most recent Euro. Perhaps England, with the sport's richest football league, richest national federation, and being part of the fourth largest economy in the world (UK), can continue dreaming after making this year's Euro final.
Ceteris. Paribus.
Further Reading
Federation of International Football Associations, 2010. "FIFA World Cup Origin", FIFA.
Ferguson, N. (2012). Civilization: The West and the Rest. Penguin. Chapter 1: Competition
Kigongo, I.D., (June 2021). "FUFA EC declares Magogo unopposed," The Daily Monitor.
McDougall, D., (January 2008). "The scandal of Africa's trafficked players," The Guardian.
Reuters, (June 2019). "FIFA to take over the running of African football," Reuters.
Sargeant, P., (June 2015). "Football corruption: Who bought the Copa America?" BBC.
Schmidt, S. (November 2017). "Former Argentine official throws himself under train hours after being accused in FIFA soccer scandal," The Washington Post.
Varcoe, Fred (19 May 2002). "Taming the 'bulldog'". The Japan Times Online.
Vickery, T. (2008). "European game puts South America in shade." BBC
Voice of America, (December 2015). "South America, a 'Breeding Ground' for Soccer Corruption?" VOA
Well, i guess the Europeans have realised that football or sports generally is a huge revenue source from which the economy thrives. Have seen the taxes in that sector?
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