Football in Europe is big business. Before the economic downturn experienced globally, the financial gains (and expenditures) of European clubs especially by the top leagues, were frightening.
The Covid 19 situation, shook the football leagues around the world especially in The European leagues have suffered many setbacks, due to the devastating effects of the pandemic that ensured that like many other sectors, football came to a halt for a while, as football fans were barred from football stadiums.
The effects are still felt in 2021, but it is pertinent to note that the game’s administrators are bent to see that the show goes on. Football in Europe, either on the club level or international level is flushed with heavy financial investments, and top-notch planning.
The prize money for the Euro 2020 in 2018, was raised to €370 million, with the participating teams set to earn €9.25 million, close to €2million increase from the prize two years earlier. When juxtaposed to the earnings by participating teams in the Africa Cup of Nations in 2019, it leaves much to be desired. Football administration in Africa, has not done justice to the undeniable talent that the continent has produced for over 50 decades. The maladministration by the administrators in Africa, have not been encouraging when compared to Europe’s where there are organizations and ethics.
The broadcasting rights drama in 2020, which meant that the usual rights holders cannot continue live telecasts of the 2021 AFCON qualifiers, cannot be experienced in Europe. The way things are done on this side of the divide, has also discouraged players of African descents who hitherto were uncertain about the countries to play for at the international level, a good reason why Nigeria has lost a few quality players to England in particular, and a few other European countries, where they were born.
The financial projection for the Africa Cup of Nations in the coming years is unknown, but the politics and internal wrangling among them, are not encouraging enough to suggest that the sky is the limit. Below are the prize monies for the last Africa Cup of Nations in Egypt.
CAF prize monies for the 2019 AFCON in Egypt Angola and Kenya (Third place in group-stages):
$620.000
Round of 16: $670.000 (Benin, Uganda, Egypt, Mali, Guinea, DR Congo, Cameroon and Ghana)
Quarter-finals: $800.000 (Madagascar, Ivory Coast, South
Africa and Benin)
Semi-finalists: $2 million (Nigeria and Tunisia)
Senegal: $2.5 million.
Algeria: $4.5 million.
