When the second Soccer World Cup tournament took place in 1934 in Italy, Egypt was invited as the sole representative of the African continent. An African team was not seen at the tournament for another 36 years, mainly because Africa was not given its own qualifying spot.
When the second Soccer World Cup tournament took place in 1934 in Italy, Egypt was invited as the sole representative of the African continent. An African team was not seen at the tournament for another 36 years, mainly because Africa was not given its own qualifying spot.
Before the 1966 World Cup, all 16 African teams boycotted the event in the qualification stage because Fifa had ruled that the reigning champions of the continent needed to enter a playoff round against the Asian or Oceanic zone in order to qualify for the event in England.
The Confederation of African Football (CAF) was summarily fined for their protests before a single spot was allocated to Africa for the 1970 World Cup in Mexico.
World Cup tournaments, as with most worldwide sporting events, have in this way been characterised as much by socio-political situations off the field as the football that’s played on it.
Indeed, African teams being sidelined matched the way the African continent was sidelined in the political world.
West Germany and the USSR were, in many ways, representatives of either side of the Cold War during tournaments while Argentina’s hosting (and winning) of the World Cup by a military regime in 1978 was said to echo Hitler’s manipulation of sports during the 1936 Berlin Olympics.
In 1982, ugly social undertones reared its head more visibly at the World Cup in Spain. On the first day of the tournament, Algeria had defeated reigning championsWest Germany, putting the North African team in a good position to progress.
In the final match of the first round between West Germany and Austria, however, both teams knew that a West German win by one or two goals would qualify them both, while a larger German victory would qualify Algeria over Austria, and a draw or an Austrian win would send Algeria through at the expense of the Germans.
When the Germans scored after ten minutes, the two German- speaking teams proceeded to poke the ball around aimlessly, outraging spectators and leading all those watching to believe that the match was fixed.
Algeria were eliminated on a goal difference and it seemed that the idea that an African team could triumph over European opposition was considered unacceptable.
But the progress of Africa as a footballing continent could not be halted. Since 1982, Africa has boasted many of the best players and has managed to cause the biggest upsets against all odds Cameroon beating champions Argentina in 1990; Nigeria knocking out Spain in 1998 and Senegal beating defending champions France and going as far as the quarter final in 2002.
Few could have guessed that 40 years since Africa was given a single place at the 1970 tournament, Africa would be hosting the World Cup and that six of its teams would be participating.
The allocation of World Cup spots to various continents is still by no means equal Europe has the lion’s share of 13 places despite the continent accounting for only 13% of the world’s population but Africa’s representation at the tournament shows that the continent has come a long way in the sport, as well as in showing their social and political independence.
Africa can go even further if the teams representing the continent do the unspeakable and cause the biggest upset in sporting history: by winning the World Cup for the first time on our own soil.
