FIFA World Cup has been dominated by only two continents since the first tournament was held 87 years ago. Europe and South America have won all the editions of the tournament but South America is regarded by the rest of the world as the continent that challenged and dismantled Europe as the status quo of football. The success of the Brazil a team that featured players with different races is testament to that assertion.
The FIFA World Cup tournament has gone from 13 teams to its current 32-team format with Africa and Australasia failing to make most of these tournaments.
The current slots for Africa (5) and Australasia (4) stand at a combined nine, North (4) and South America (5) at nine, Oceania (1) whiles Europe boasts a whopping 13 slots at the tournament.
This is the reason why Africa and Australasia are seen as minnows in world football considering the two continents do not have the numbers to compete.
FIFA knows all too well that football is a numbers game
Any team that has a bad disciplinary record is doomed to have a consistent losing record because opposing teams would take advantage of their player’s in-game suspensions. Football fans are normally shocked when a team that had a numerical advantage in a game (eleven against ten loses a game).
French Ligue One after Olympique Marseille in 1993 did not make any impact in European football at club level until AS Monaco returned to the scene with a Uefa Champions League final loss against FC Porto in 2004 because the league lacked the numbers to compete.
UEFA Champions league winning countries are not better than the countries they compete against because those leagues feature at least one team whiles the minimum for the so-called big leagues stands at four.
FIFA can go ahead with equal slots at 48-Team tournament
The world is said to have six continents with Antarctica sometimes added to make it seven.
The football world has seen World Cups organized without the participation of Australasia and African countries therefore FIFA can create equity through its self-created world.
Even with 32 teams the Americans can be merged as one, Oceania and Australasia can also be merged together to form a single football continent whiles Africa and Europe also remain as individual continents.
This would make four continents and eight groups with each group featuring a team from each of the four continents. Eight slots apiece would undoubtedly provide other continents with an equal opportunity to win.
A 48-Team tournament means an addition of 16 teams and this can still fit into the equation where every continent gets 12 slots. FIFA World Cup finals are either Europe versus Europe or Europe versus South America. Never has this trend changed and so would it be at Russia 2018 until appropriate measures are put in place.
If FIFA gives Europe more than 20 slots in a 48-Team tournament then it means that nothing has changed but just a promotional tool to get additional teams to compete whiles Europe still maintains its competitive advantage over the rest of the world.
Gianni Infantino has garnered a lot of respect right from his days as UEFA General Secretary and FIFA President in the last six months but his credibility and legacy would come to fruition if he brings equity to the biggest individual sporting event in the world. Aside this, if the 48-Team World Cup goes through would no appropriate measures then it would forever be remember as a promotional tool for the Federation of International Football Association.
