Everything about football administration and governance in the world is skewed to favor the Europeans. If you’re looking for a clear example of neo-imperialism, look no further, football has all the answers. From its name (which is French) to its Presidents (a European affair), world football smells European.
FIFA stands for Federation Internationale de Football Association, a French word. It’s headquarters is in Zurich, Switzerland (Europe). Most of its presidents, 10 out of 12, have been Europeans.
S/N | Name | Country | Tenure |
1. | Robert Guerin | France | 1904 – 1906 |
2. | Daniel Burley Woolfall | England | 1906 – 1916 |
3. | Cornelius August Wilhelm Hirschman | Netherlands | 1918 – 1920 |
4. | Jules Rimet | France | 1920 – 1954 |
5. | Rodolphe Seeldrayers | Belgium | 1954 – 1955 |
6. | Arthur Drewry | England | 1955 – 1961 |
7. | Ernst Thommen | Switzerland | 1961 – 1961 |
8. | Stanley Rous | England | 1961 – 1974 |
9. | Joao Havelange | Brazil | 1974 – 1998 |
10. | Sepp Blatter | Switzerland | 1998 – 2015 |
11. | Isa Hayatou | Cameroon | 2015 – 2016 |
12. | Gianni Infantino | Switzerland/Italy | 2016 – Date |
The total tenure of Europeans governing FIFA spans 93 years (out of 118 years). The two non-European presidents are Brazilian, Joao Havelange (24 years as president), and Isa Hayatou, a Cameroonian, who stepped in as acting president in 2015 when Blatter was impeached. He served for only 141 days (less than 5 months).
The draws for the FIFA 2022 world cup group stages held on Friday 01/04/2022. Of the 32 countries competing in the tournament, 13 are European countries!. So if a third of participants in a competition are from a particular section, what are the chances that a team from that section will not win the competition? Do the math. For every World Cup that is hosted, there is a higher probability of a European country winning it than not.
There are 7 continents in the world. Why not draw an equal number of countries from each continent? What could be the justification for selecting as much as a third of participants from one continent? There are 44 countries in Europe, and 54 in Africa, yet Europe has 13 representatives and Africa 5. The population of Europe is 647 million, Africa’s population is 1.2 billion and Asia’s population is 4.7 billion, yet there are only 5 Asian countries at the tournament (including the Middle East).
History proves me right. Below is the list of world cup winners
Year | Winner | Runner-up | Host country |
1930 | Uruguay | Argentina | Uruguay |
1934 | Italy | Czechoslovakia | Italy |
1938 | Italy | Hungary | France |
1950 | Uruguay | Brazil | Brazil |
1954 | West Germany | Hungary | Switzerland |
1958 | Brazil | Sweden | Sweden |
1962 | Brazil | Czechoslovakia | Chile |
1966 | England | West Germany | England |
1970 | Brazil | Italy | Mexico |
1974 | West Germany | Netherlands | West Germany |
1978 | Argentina | Netherlands | Argentina |
1982 | Italy | West Germany | Spain |
1986 | Argentina | West Germany | Mexico |
1990 | West Germany | Argentina | Italy |
1994 | Brazil | Italy | USA |
1998 | France | Brazil | France |
2002 | Brazil | Germany | Korea/Japan |
2006 | Italy | France | Germany |
2010 | Spain | Netherlands | South Africa |
2014 | Germany | Argentina | Brazil |
2018 | France | Croatia | Russia |
A European country has won the world cup 12 out of 21 times it has been held (that is more than half of the time). A European country has also been runner-up 16 times (that is more than two thirds of the time!). Next, The competition itself has been hosted by a European country 11 out of 21 times(again that is more than half the time). Look closer you will notice that almost 40% of the time, a host country finishes first or second in the competition.
So tell me what to expect from a competition that is governed by a particular group, hosted by the same group and run by the same group. They choose which countries are ‘good enough’ to compete with them and we tag along. They publish their so called FIFA rankings and we believe them. Every year they brainwash us with their version of the world’s best player and we don’t ask questions. Out of 65 Balon d’Or winners (1956 – 2021), 51 are Europeans and all the winners have been from European clubs. Forget it!
I could go on and on. Someone said it’s because they play football better, but that is a lie. That is exactly the way they want us to think. The superiority complex; ‘we are better at it than you are’, ‘you are not good enough’, ‘it is a privilege to allow you compete with us’. At the last African Cup of Nations, we heard them call it an ‘inferior competition’.
I foresee a dissolution of FIFA in the near future. All it takes is for one of the marginalized groups from Africa or Asia to stage a walk out and host their own competitions. FIFA is not a soverign government. I don’t understand what the compulsion to remain under FIFA is. Why cant CAF break away from FIFA? Let me stop here before FIFA bans me from playing football in my street.