Three reasons why it won’t end soon

The last time four European teams made the semi-final of the football World Cup was in 2006. Now, 12 years later, once again four European team complete the list. It means that for the fifth time in the six World Cups since 1998, a European team will be world champion.

The 1998 World Cup is the baseline to make sense of Europe’s domination because it was during that tournament the format was altered to expand participation to 32 teams. In five of the subsequent six World Cups (including the ongoing one in Russia), Europe has dominated. The exception was in 2002 when two of the four semi-finalists were not from Europe.

European domination is unlikely to change in the near future. There are three reasons why this is likely to be the case.

One, the aim of the most promising players across continents is to find a placement in one of Europe’s top clubs. Not only is this the most lucrative option for them, it’s where they are most likely to grow as footballers.

In the current World Cup, 74% of the players who participated across countries play professional football in Europe. Within the continent, it’s west Europe which sucks in top talent.

Even a prominent club within east Europe such as Croatia’s Dinamo Zagreb seems to unearth talent and prepare them for bigger clubs in west Europe. Luka Modric and Mario Mandzukic, key players in Croatian team, moved from Dinamo Zagreb to bigger clubs.

Two, the wealth at the command of top clubs in England, Spain, Italy, Germany and France make them the most important segment of the football world. These clubs contribute the most to the evolution of football in terms of tactics.

Three, players from the countries where the top clubs are located have an advantage as the nucleus of the national side often plays together for some of these clubs. To illustrate, Bayern Munich in Germany has a large representation of players in the national team. In Spain, Real Madrid and Barcelona are heavily represented in the national team.

In contrast, a country like Argentina which was the largest exporter of professional footballers a few years ago increasingly struggles to form a cohesive team.

An outcome of the current system is that African and Asian teams have almost caught up with Europe because their best players play there or ageing stars from Europe play in their domestic leagues. But teams from Africa and Asia still don’t have what it takes to dethrone Europe in football.

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Disclaimer

Views expressed above are the author’s own.

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