The World Cup ends this weekend. For the first time in its history it will have a European winner that triumphed outside of Europe. It could have been an African winner or finalist – semi-finalist at worst if Uruguay’s Luis Suárez’ cheating had not won an undeserved reward. The Black Stars were robbed of their chance to make history, but Africa lost as well.

“We have not got past the quarter-final stage,” Zambian and African legend Kalusha Bwalya told us exclusively. “It would be good if we can get to the semis and maybe in the final. We’ve seen the rotation system is not going to come back, so it’s now or never to make a good impression in 2010.”

Ghana had the opportunity to achieve that, but was robbed by the actions of the cheat. Africa as a whole has paid the price too. Everything depends on performance. Africa had to do well. “Our confederation can be much stronger if our performance at the World Cup is much better and I think that is the way that FIFA is looking at it,” said Bwalya. “I still feel that we need one or two more places in these modern times, so our teams can perform.”

Blinkered:

FIFA response to Africa being cheated yet again has been to completely ignore that there were consequences of the actions of a cheat that has robbed the host continent. Africa had to deliver and didn’t do so and FIFA took no account of the fact that blatant cheating was the cause.

The allocation of World Cup places won’t be changed and it remains fundamentally unfair. The method of allocating slots maintains a status quo that was built on a system that favoured Europe and South America for decades. It still does – no wonder their performance is better and remains so.

Performance related allocation takes no account of the wrongs of the past that created the current status quo. It was built on a system that discriminated in favour of Europe and South America. A system that rewards performance now ignores the ills of the past, but in Africa’s case punishes them because of the actions of a cheat.

"Number of slots in the FIFA World Cup is not directly linked with the World Cup all-time ranking nor with the FIFA World Ranking,” said a FIFA spokesperson. If it is simply performance-based, it ignores the effect that lack of opportunity has had on it.

Slots:

Cameroun’s performance in 1990 resulted in an extra place for Africa. In 1998 the tournament expanded to thirty-two teams and Africa got two more places. Senegal’s 2002 quarter-final place was eclipsed by South Korea’s run and didn’t earn an increase – Africa hasn’t had an increase since 1998 and needed it for this World Cup. Even before the final thirty-two arrived in South Africa the consequences of this were clear.

The only major confederation not to have a second chance for their best losing teams, lost their champions by a wafer thin margin before the tournament had even started. Magnanimously Egypt made no complaint about a system that discriminated against their confederation alone.

“At the end of the day we have to get more teams – one or two places more from somewhere,” Bwalya said. “When we used to play it was very, very difficult to get to the World Cup. Hopefully we’ll get to the correct number that will strike the right balance.”

Robbed:

This World Cup was the best opportunity to achieve what was necessary for Africa. “A lot of things have to be put into place but hopefully after this World Cup we’ll have more teams – maybe eight, but the divisions are always going to be related to how African teams do,” said Bwalya. But African teams disappointed. Africa remains on its current allocation, despite being robbed of its best ever showing by a cheat.

Of African teams only Ghana made it out of their group, so the hopes of a whole continent rested on the Black Stars. A better than previous performance would have strengthened CAF’s hand to demand more slots. The cheating hands of Luis Suárez prevented that happening. Had Ghana reached the semi-final as their performance deserved, they may have gone on to win and earned the continent extra slots.

So what effect would Ghanaian success have had on the allocation of slots? Despite repeated requests for clarification from FIFA of what would have happened if Ghana had progressed, their silence was deafening. Why? FIFA has announced that there will be no change in the allocation of slots for 2014.

Would Africa have been given an extra slot if Ghana had reached the semi-final? It’s a simple question. Yes or no Mr Blatter? And if Ghana had gone on to win the tournament how many extra slots would Africa have received? We still await answers.