The box office success of Black Panther has made Wagan a symbol of "development" and "advancement" in the black world. However, the African continent, with its large population and abundant resources, is chronically poor. We often blame predators (colonizers) for poverty, but if we trace the history of human development, we will find that the root cause of the problem goes far beyond that. The soccer version of Africa has its share of internal problems.
The 2022 World Cup in Qatar has, as expected, generated huge revenues for FIFA (International Federation of Association Football).With revenues of $2.2 billion from the 2014 World Cup in Brazil and over $3.5 billion from the 2018 World Cup in Russia, this year's World Cup in Qatar is projected to set a new record for revenues/profits.
When the intercontinental qualifiers were in full swing, the continental football federations had already started to "collect money". FIFA was so anxious that it used every possible means to delay the start of the African qualifiers, using the "epidemic factor" as an excuse. In the end, no major company bought the broadcasting rights, and FIFA could only generously put the matches on its own YouTube channel for fans around the world to watch. It is not that CAF did not sell the TV rights, but due to "political factors", the original broadcasting contract was terminated, a consequence that was not expected by "soccer experts", and the vicious circle has not yet begun, with CAF almost facing bankruptcy.
The African qualifiers FIFA streamed live to the world for free, in an unprecedented show of generosity!
Sepp Blatter has been at the helm of FIFA for 17 years, but he has actually been with the organization for over 40 years. During this time, FIFA has been plagued by scandals and is considered by many in the international media to be the world's biggest "mob". Like all dictators, Blatter claimed to be incorruptible, but was corrupt in the areas of sponsorship, bidding for the organization of competitions, and television broadcasting. In the case of the "player and referee", he has no one to monitor, no one to investigate, and nepotism pervades the soccer industry.
In order to maintain this situation, dictators need more "stakes" than elected representatives. Blatter had several "stakes" in his FIFA career, such as Ricardo Teixeira in South America and Issa Hayatou in Africa. They served Blatter, and Blatter helped them to make money, and to ensure that they were in power for a long time in the local, rich and famous. Teixeira was president of the South American Football Confederation for 23 years (1989-2012), and Hayatou ran roughshod over the Confederation of African Football for 29 years (1988-2017), and was also an executive member of the Olympic Committee.
To be clear, the names mentioned here are all quite controversial and have nothing to do with cleanliness.
The World Cup and the Olympics have all been marred by malpractices and scandals during their hosting periods, and the bidding for TV rights to soccer tournaments has been full of oil and hidden political tussles...
Issa Hayatou claimed that he helped African soccer come out of the Stone Age: during his 29 years in office, Africa increased its World Cup places, expanded the Nations Cup, had modern TV broadcasts, regular revenues, and so on. All of this should therefore be credited to him. The Cameroonian-born president had strong ties with French business and only signed TV broadcasting/sales contracts with the same company (Lagardère) from 1994 until he stepped down.
When Gianni Infantino took over the reins of FIFA, he focused on cleaning up corruption and trying to get rid of the "old foxes" on every continent. First, he made Hajjarto lose the presidential election, and then he overthrew the broadcasting rights that Hajjarto had sold in the last year of his 29-year career, terminating them outright. The 12-year contract was worth $1 billion, which Infantino considered to be a bargain and unacceptable to FIFA.
Comparing the Champions League, which Taiwanese fans are familiar with, to Africa, no tournament in Africa would be worth the money. Although the number of stars from Africa is increasing year by year, European and South American championships are more attractive. 1 billion dollars may not seem like much or a lot, but it's more than double the amount of the land-based Wanda bid, so why is the difference so big? The reason lies in the Arab world's financial strength. Several countries in North Africa belong to the Arab cultural circle, is the favorite to win the African Cup of Nations, the club level cup is even easier. Soccer in these countries has someone's attention in the Arab world, plus the influence of Qatari money, Al Jazeera you know? Their sports channel beIN Sport reaches into the European interior, and beIN Sport has long since bought the rights to broadcast Lagardère in the Arab world.
Gianni Infantino has tasked his new African president with breaking the contract. The 12-year contract, worth $1 billion, could not be considered valid because of antitrust principles through the Egyptian courts (CAF is headquartered in Cairo.) Lagardère, which is now owned by an American investment fund, has threatened to sue CAF for $100 million.
