by Wellington C. Ramos, Former Belize national football player
FIFA should increase the amount of slots given to the other regions in the world to make it comparable to the European continent. This will allow their World Cup tournaments, to give all the regions a fair chance of winning the cup. For this year 2022, there are thirty-two teams vying for the championship in Qatar. Thirty-one teams come from all the regions, and the host country Qatar obtained an automatic spot.
According to FIFA’s rules, the 31 teams must earn qualification from their respective continental governing body: Africa (CAF), Asia (AFC), Europe (UEFA), North America/Central America/Caribbean (CONCACAF) and South America (CONMEBOL). Those spots are divided by regions: The continent of Africa has 54 countries, yet they are given (5) slots. The continent of Asia has 48 countries, and they are given (4) slots. The continent of Europe has 44, countries, and they are granted (13) slots. The continent of North America has three countries, which are Mexico, the United States and Canada, but they are grouped in with Central America and the Caribbean region, which have a total of 29 countries. The region is only granted (3) slots and South America, which has a total of 13 countries, is granted (4) slots.
It is clear that the continent of Europe is being granted more slots than the other regions in the world. The continent of Africa has the most countries in the world. Yet, the number of slots that they are given is less than Europe.
This gives the European continent a greater advantage for one of their countries to win the World Cup, and this needs to be changed. The only way this can change is for all the countries in the world to demand it.
The Europeans and many countries in the world consider football to be their number-1 sport. Because most countries in Europe are better off economically than the countries in the other continents, they invest a lot of money into this sport. Europe also has tournaments in which foreign football players are paid more money than their native countries could give them, so the players from the other countries are desperate to go to Europe and play.
Even though these players play in Europe, they are still obliged to play for their respective countries in the World Cup. This gives them a dual obligation to their football clubs and their country. Most of these players only join their national teams during qualification matches and when the World Cup season is about to begin. This places most of the teams from the other countries at a big disadvantage. It isolates them from developing team work and communication skills with their national team.
Football is my number one sport, and it will always be, because I have a passion for it and I am addicted to this sport. In Belize they call players like me “BALL PER”. My friends and I played football late in the evening into the night. This is when I was growing up by Logan Field in Dangriga Town, Belize. We had no equipment, uniform, football, coaches, yet with our determination we were able to become great players.
I watched most of the games played in this 2022 World Cup and the two teams that impressed me the most are France and Croatia. These two teams have the potential to win it all. They played against each other in the last World Cup that was played in Russia in 2018. That was when France defeated Croatia 4-2. I think Croatia learnt from that defeat, and they are coming for some revenge. I am leaning Croatia for this World Cup.
Morocco has surprised many people, because most of them did not expect its team to reach this far. In football, many times the style of play that the team uses can make a big difference in the game. I am a player and coach who prefers playing with these techniques; running, passing shooting and man-to-man attack football.
In some of the games I was watching, there was excessive dribbling by some players and teams. They were also lagging in their defensive zones and bringing pressure on their goalkeeper. Some players brought the ball back to their goal too many times. The goal area that a team wants to score in is at the other end of the field, so move the ball there. Some coaches were playing defensive football instead of defense offense football. If a team does not score, they will only “draw” a game, while the overall objective is to win. A majority of those teams lost their games. Losing is tough, because of the amount of work that players and teams have to do to win their games.