I’ve been following the ballyhoo over Confederation of African Football’s sponsorship deal with Qatar, the tiny Arab state that wants to host the 2022 World Cup. At first look, I thought “much ado about nothing”. Qatar certainly negotiated a brilliant deal that gives them exclusive, free reign to showcase its 2022 bid at the 29 January CAF Congress in Angola. But FIFA has already ruled that the agreement is legal and no one has actually submitted a formal complaint about it. The Brits have even said they are “relaxed” about the deal. So why the gallons of ink spilled over the matter?
A deeper look tells me that it’s not Qatar that the two, big country critics have a problem with. Qatar made a great deal in a legal negotiation. No, it’s CAF that the critics are targeting. But it’s a classic case of projecting ones failures onto others. And not thinking up an exclusive sponsorship agreement with CAF is, at the end of the day, a strategic failure.
I can’t help but think that there is even more going on here. There’s a whiff of colonial entitlement in the outrage being expressed by the big country critics of the African-Qatar deal. What’s implicit in their complaints of the deal is that CAF is somehow unprofessional, or worse, unable to manage its own affairs…at least to the satisfaction of rich, big bidding nations.
In the end, questioning the judgment of CAF won’t prove to be a good strategy for anyone hoping to appeal to crucial African FIFA voters (there are four) for the 2018-2022 World Cup. Africa, which is about to host the 2010 World Cup, deserves respect as a force for football’s future. Now, especially in the wake of the horrifying attacks on the Togolese team in Angola this week, all of African football deserves our support. The attacks on CAF’s professionalism and capability demonstrate neither.
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