The 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa will be the first time the world’s greatest sports event will take place on African soil. When he announced that South Africa would be the host of the next World Cup, FIFA President Blatter added, “The winner is Africa. The winner is football.” This remark hinted at the importance of the event, not only for the host nation South Africa, but also for the entire continent of Africa. Location information was disclosed earlier, yet still the final announcement was received with great enthusiasm throughout Africa, and thousands of South Africans celebrated all over the country. The nomination to host the World Cup is regarded as a great chance; a chance for African football to finally live up to the expectations of many experts, who over the years have predicted that it was just a matter of time until an African nation, won a World Cup. Finally, an opportunity to meet expectations and hopes of millions of football fans across the continent. Being the greatest multimedia spectacle worldwide, it is an opening for Africa to present itself in a new light to the world.
It’s Africa’s turn
Throughout World Cup history, African teams have had to prove that they could challenge the World’s best squads and compete for the title, which is quite surprising since almost no other continent brings forth as many talents as Africa. After Cameroon’s impressive campaign at the championship in Italy in 1990, many had expected the world’s second largest continent to be successful and eventually win the title in the near future. However only Senegal made it to the quarter-finals in Korea/Japan 2002. If African teams are able to maintain their level of progress in all stages of the junior tournaments, it would indeed only be a matter of time before the trophy is captured by one of them. Ghana and Nigeria have both won the U-17 championships twice and the U-20 level teams from the black continent have also been quite successful. Therefore the question arises as to why they cannot convert their undoubtedly great potential into success at the professional level? Many experts claim the failure often lies in the lack of tactical training and discipline of the players. These explanations, however, are questionable since most national players tend to play in Europe’s top leagues regardless of their place of origin, meaning they should all have the same degree of training. Another subject area of African football that is often criticized is the backup of players by their respective federations. Some players have even complained about the structure and management of their countries’ football associations. Nonetheless these problems can be dealt with and backed up by home advantage and the millions of supporters in 2010 should definitely be a great time for them to reach out for glory. Although it has not yet been decided, it would be great if six African teams were given an opportunity to participate in the upcoming tournament. Since sports history has shown that home teams usually succeed in events, it could be a good motivator for African players and their fans as success may be in striking range.
A chance to present the continent
Although the world’s focus will be on South Africa for the duration of the competition, it would most likely shift to the continent as a whole. This could be an occasion for Africans to present themselves and not be represented by others in a biased fashion. It is often disturbing to see the world’s portrayal of the continent with negative headlines of poverty, wars and corruption in politics. The outside picture created by foreign media thus, calls for a change of this imagery. Just as Germany tried to portray itself in a new light to the world in this past World Cup, it is a time for South Africa to do the same for the continent. And just as Germany managed to do this successfully, chances are South Africa will do likewise.
Besides, the last World Cup showed that a sports event of such dimension can generate positive impulses that go far beyond sports, stimulating economic growth and creating a lasting effect on the minds of spectators worldwide.
When Blatter claimed that the selection of South Africa was a victory for Africa, he knew that the whole continent could benefit from this decision and that chances of African soil leading Africa to victory were great, whether on the field or in the minds of people.