Levelling the playing field

African football is entering a critical period — one that will determine whether the decision to host the World Cup on African soil for the first time was the correct one.

Firstly, final preparations are now under way for the Confederations Cup, a tournament that will see hosts South Africa thrown into the deep-end with some of the giants of international football. And then the double-header of the 2010 African Nations Cup and 2010 World Cup qualifiers get under way.

For African countries that have failed to make their mark on the quadrennial showpiece of international soccer, this is the start of the final phase of preparations. Never before have the stakes been higher. Apart from Cameroon (1990) and Nigeria (1994), no African teams have made it to the knockout stages of the tournament.

Fifa and the Local Organising Committee have repeatedly stressed that 2010 must be different, particularly with home-ground advantage.

“What must not happen is for the last 16 onwards to be dominated only by teams from Europe and South America,” LOC CEO Danny Jordaan told a delegation of southern African media representatives in Johannesburg last week.

It’s common knowledge that Africa has been a breeding ground for some of the wealthiest leagues around the planet and not a single African club has had the financial clout to buy a top international player.

Fifa secretary-general Jerome Valcke says the governing body is working on a system to better control the exodus of young players from Africa.

“European football is so strong because the pyramid is so strong; the same has to be done for Africa. You can’t have a good national team without good club teams,” he said.

Irrespective of how Africa performs at the 2010 World Cup, this tournament will surely help to level the playing field between this continent and the rest of the world.