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
