Feature Football
The disappointing lack of cerebral debate on the wretched state of the continental game, at the 33rd General Assembly of the Confederation of African Football (CAF), clearly indicates the need for a revolutionary change in its top management, reports our football editor Osasu Obayiuwana.
Where next for African football?
H
aving witnessed the charade that was the 33rd Confedera- tion of African Football (CAF) general assembly, on 23 Febru- ary in Khartoum, Sudan, one
thing is crystal clear – the continental game is undoubtedly in the throes of a deep crisis. CAF’s leadership and the overwhelm-
ing majority of its 53 national association members (South Sudan will become CAF’s 54th member, after its formal commence- ment as a sovereign state in July) – are frighteningly unaware, or unconcerned, about the precarious state our game is in and the urgent need to chart a course that will halt our rapid decline. Whilst the 2010 World Cup finals, organised by South Africa, were a resounding success and a credit to the skills of the Local Organising Committee, led by CEO Danny Jordaan, Africa’s performance on the pitch was a sad but true reflection of the regression of the African game, particularly over the last decade. With five out of our six representatives
– Algeria, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Ni- geria and South Africa – falling at the first hurdle, with Ghana’s Black Stars bearing, creditably, the onerous burden of saving Africa from total shame, African football is falling behind the rest of the world. Even Asia, which used to be beneath
Africa in the pecking order of World Cup achievement, has gone past us – with South Korea reaching the semi-finals of the 2002 World Cup and besting Africa at the 2010 World Cup finals, by having two teams – Japan and South Korea – in the knockout
86 | April 2011 New African
stages of the tournament. After 81 years of the World Cup finals, Africa is yet to have two teams in the knock-out phase. CAF’s meeting in Khartoum, Sudan
– the birthplace of CAF in 1957 – ought to have provided the perfect forum for an unvarnished, totally honest look at where we are and what must be done now. The World Cup tournament is the
benchmark by which the quality of the national and continental game is measured. And on that score, we’re failing miserably. African football has not moved a single
inch beyond the quarter-final Rubicon, crossed by Cameroon’s Indomitable Lions at the 1990 World Cup finals in Italy – twenty-one long years ago. Is this a situa- tion of which we can be proud? Certainly not! And how do we continue to tolerate a situation where the Cup of Nations finals offer a measly $1.5 million to the winner and much less to the rest, making the most prestigious tournament in Africa a finan- cial drain on national associations – as the cost of qualifying for the tournament far exceeds the winnings on offer? Or dubious circumstances where CAF’s
committee for ethics and fair play was pre- sided over by a man – the disgraced Amos Adamu – whose conduct and career record are being questioned as he ponders the real
which the African game is measured. On that score, we’re failing miserably.”
“ The World Cup is the benchmark by
A Sudanese fan displays his passion for the national side. But are supporters of African teams being served well by the approach of the ruling body, the Confederation of African Football?
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