According to FIFA statistics published on www.fifa.com the lowest attendance for its men’s Soccer final was recorded in 1938 at France with a total of 45,000 people. To my astonishment the highest attendance ever recorded by FIFA at its men soccer final was 114,600 at Mexico.

I am astonished because, the argument often made in favor of European nations hosting the World Cup is often based on facilities, and attendance. Out of 18 men's World Cup tournaments organized by FIFA from 1930 to 2006, European Countries hosted 10. The highest attendance at a final in Europe was 93,000 recorded by England in 1966. Mexico on the other hand is not as developed as any of the European nations but was able to record 114,600 attendance in 1986. Soccer is not that popular in the USA but the USA managed to record a higher attendance than any European Nation ever did at the final. The USA recorded 94,194 at the 1994 World Cup final. It must be clear to FIFA by now that it does not make business sense to keep hosting the World Cup in Europe.

YEAR

HOST NATION

ATTENDANCE @ FINAL

TEAMS @ FINAL

WINNER

 REFEREE

1930

URUGUAY

80,000

Uruguay -Argentina

Uruguay

Jan Langenus (BEL)

1934

ITALY

50,000

Italy - Czechoslovakia

Italy

Ivan Eklind (SWE)

1938

FRANCE

45,000

Italy -Â Hungary

Italy

George Capdeville (FRA)

1950

BRAZIL

???????

Brazil - Uruguay

Uruguay

George Reader (ENG)

1954

SWITZERLAND

60,000

Germany - Hungary

Germany

William Ling (ENG)

1958

SWEDEN

51,800

Brazil - Sweden

Brazil

Maurice Guigue (FRA)

1962

CHILE

69,000

Brazil - Czechoslovakia

Brazil

Nikolaj Latychev (URS)

1966

ENGLAND

93,000

England - Germany

England

Gottfried Dienst (SUI)

1970

MEXICO

107,412

Brazil -Italy

Brazil

Rudi Gloeckner (GDR)

1974

GERMANY

75,200

Netherlands-Germany

Germany

John Taylor (ENG)

1978

ARGENTINA

71,483

Argentina -Netherlands

Argentina

Sergio Gonella (ITA)

1982

SPAIN

90,000

Italy - Germany

Italy

Arnaldo Coelho (BRA)

1986

MEXICO

114,600

Argentina-Germany

Argentina

Romualdo Arppi F. (BRA)

1990

ITALY

73,603

Germany -Argentina

Germany

Edgardo Codesal M. (MEX)

1994

USA

94,194

Brazil - Italy

Brazil

Sandor Puhl (HUN)

1998

FRANCE

80,000

Brazil - France

France

Said Belqola (MAR)

2002

KOREA/JAPAN

69,029

Germany -Brazil

Brazil

Pierluigi Collina (ITA)

2006

GERMANY

69,000

Italy - France

Italy

Horacio Elizondo (ARG)

2010

SOUTH AFRICA

Record Breakers???

Two African Nations???

Ghana???

African Referee?????

Statistics from FIFA.COM

As indicated on the table above, European referees have dominated at all FIFA World Cup finals. Is FIFA trying to tell the World that it cannot find very good referees from Asia, Africa, North America etc for its finals? I hope FIFA will give referees from continents other than Europe the opportunity at the finals in South Africa 2010.

Africans love Soccer and have benefitted from Soccer in so many ways. We have seen FIFA and CAF do great things by using Soccer to combat civil wars in Africa and other parts of the World. I have no doubt that South Africa and for that matter Africa will break the FIFA final attendance record currently held by Mexico.

My questions to all Soccer fans is as follows

1. Will South Africa break the attendance record at the final?

2. Which two teams will be at the final?

3. Can an African nation win the World Cup?

4. Which African Nation do you expect to win the World Cup?

5. Why do European referees dominate at the finals?

Nick Amuna

Email: nicamuna@yahoo.com USA