World Cup
African football has the platform for historic World Cup success
Africa could break the glass ceiling of winning the World Cup in the next 10 years, partly thanks to a platform highlighting to foreign clubs the most talented youth from the continent, the co-founder has boldly claimed to AFP.
Morocco’s surprise run to the 2022 World Cup semi-finals sparked hopes that such a moment is not far off.
Benjamin Balkin, though, thinks Eyeball, the digital platform he co-founded in 2020, could be the determining factor in ensuring that happens as it provides a shop window for talent which would previously have been missed.
Balkin cheerfully describes himself as a “failed footballer” having played in the academy of French club Monaco but was told he would fall short in the senior ranks.
As a Monaco ballboy, Balkin marvelled at the skills of Ivory Coast superstar Yaya Toure and Togo’s Emmanuel Adebayor.
It was the spark that lit the fuse and has years later resulted in Eyeball investing in an Under-19 championship for Senegalese academies, United Future League, in Senegal.
That is one part of their investment as they also provide video cameras to 5,000 youth coaches globally, who film training sessions and add tags to individual players which are then placed on the platform.
High-profile clubs like German champions Bayer Leverkusen and Chelsea can access the footage.
It costs clubs just 92 euros ($97) a day to be able to scout 30,000 players across Africa.
Balkin, born in France to Danish parents, says by moving abroad the players grow in every sense which ultimately benefits their national sides.
“Those players leaving African academies and going to European or American academies, their football understanding skills, IQ will improve, because of just a better level of training, better infrastructure,” Balkin told AFP from Copenhagen.
“When those players come back and play for the national team, the national teams will also benefit from that and perform probably at a better level.
“So maybe if we speak again in 10 years, we’ll have an African nation that has won the World Cup, that wouldn’t be surprising.”
‘Much more transparent’
Balkin’s friend and now colleague Oliver Durr Dehnhardt experienced how difficult it was to acquire African talent when he was a scout at Dutch giants Ajax.
“We made a partnership with Cape Town FC in South Africa for a few years,” he told AFP.
“It didn’t work out. We got one player out of it and it was still too messy.
“So in the end, before Eyeball, the idea in Africa was, let’s wait until they come to Europe and then we just need to accept that we will have to pay 10, 15, 20 million euros for them.”
The 30-year-old Dane said that picture was transformed when Eyeball, who say they are the only players in this market, came on the scene.
“In my later stage at Ajax, we were starting to look actively in Africa because Eyeball enabled that for us,” he said.
“With the United Future League, they actually built the structure that was missing and gave us the opportunity to see the players a year, year-and-a-half before they made their senior debut.
“So all of a sudden, we were able to replicate the process that we have in Europe to Africa.”
In years gone by there have been plentiful stories of young talent brought to Europe by unscrupulous agents and when they fail to make it are left to fend for themselves, often condemned to sleeping on the streets.
Balkin, 26, believes such behaviour is now “outdated” but Eyeball provides a safety net.
“It certainly made things much more transparent,” he said.
“That’s the biggest thing. So throughout the system, you’re actually able to get correct information on players.
“So first of all, like, when are they born? What is the nationality?
“Clubs and scouts are able to reach out directly to other clubs down there in Africa without having to go through intermediaries.”
Balkin highlights the story of 19-year-old Assane Ouedraogo, who through the platform earned a move from his Ivory Coast club San Pedro to Charlotte in the MLS, although he is currently on loan at MLS Next Pro side Crown Legacy FC.
“With the sign-on bonus, he was able to buy a house for his parents.”
-AFP
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With just a year to go until the 2026 FIFA World Cup kicks off in the United States, concerns are mounting over the impact of extreme summer heat on players and fans.
According to experts interviewed by the BBC, FIFA may be forced to adjust match schedules drastically—possibly even staging the World Cup final as early as 9 a.m.—to mitigate the risks posed by soaring temperatures.
The warnings follow sweltering conditions witnessed during recent international and Club World Cup matches held in the U.S., where athletes and spectators alike were exposed to intense heat and humidity.
One of the leading voices raising the alarm is Professor Mike Tipton, an expert in thermal physiology at the University of Portsmouth. Speaking to BBC Sport, he emphasised the potential health risks of playing in extreme conditions and recommended that matches begin as early in the day as possible.
“From a thermo-physiological point of view, for health and performance reasons, I would look to start matches as early as possible,” Tipton stated, suggesting that even the final—traditionally held in the afternoon or evening—could be moved to a morning kickoff.
Tipton went further, noting that the ideal solution would be to host the tournament during a cooler time of year, as was done with the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, which was shifted to November and December due to extreme heat.
However, with the 2026 tournament already locked in for June 11 to July 19, FIFA’s only remaining flexibility lies in scheduling match times.
The 2026 edition will be jointly hosted by the United States, Canada, and Mexico across multiple cities, some of which are known for intense summer heat.
Health experts are urging organisers to prioritise player safety and fan well-being, warning that failing to act could lead to performance issues, heat-related illnesses, or worse.
FIFA has yet to publicly comment on any proposed changes to match schedules, but as temperatures continue to rise, pressure is mounting for the governing body to take decisive action ahead of football’s biggest tournament.
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FIFA’s Global Football Development chief Arsene Wenger acknowledged that the quality of pitches hosting Club World Cup matches in the U.S. was not good enough, but insisted it would be better when the country co-hosts the 2026 World Cup.
The pitches, often very dry and sprinkled with water during cooling breaks or at halftime, have been widely criticised, mainly by coaches and players of the European teams taking part.
“I’ve been personally on the pitch at Orlando,” former Arsenal manager Wenger said on Saturday. “It’s not at the level that the European clubs are used to because it’s not perfect, but that will be rectified for the World Cup next year.”
Paris St Germain coach Luis Enrique raised the issue early in the expanded Club World Cup tournament.
“The ball bounces like a rabbit,” Luis Enrique said after his team’s opening 4-0 win over Atletico Madrid.
“Today, for example, the field used to be artificial turf, and now it’s natural grass laid over it, which means it has to be watered manually. It’s a big problem for the way we play.”
“FIFA really needs to take this seriously. Not just the stadium fields but also the training pitches. If we’re calling this the best club tournament in the world, it should have world‑class facilities. I can’t imagine an NBA game played on a court full of holes.”
-Reuters
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Congo will be allowed to continue participating in the World Cup qualifiers despite missing two fixtures in March when they were banned, world football’s governing body FIFA said on Wednesday.
Congo were suspended from February to May because of government interference in the running of their football association (FECOFOOT) but the ban was lifted when officials returned to their positions and were handed back access to their headquarters and technical training centre.
Sports minister Hugues Ngouelondele had appointed an ad-hoc committee last year to run the association, claiming it needed to sort out disputes among association office bearers, but FIFA suspended FECOFOOT due to third-party interference, which violates its statutes.
During the ban, Congo were not allowed to participate in any international competition, which meant they did not honour 2026 World Cup qualifiers against Tanzania and Niger in March.
A FIFA spokesman told Reuters the points from those fixtures were forfeited and a 3-0 victory awarded to their opponents.
But they will continue in the qualifiers when they resume in September, even if they have no chance of qualifying.
Congo are scheduled to play Tanzania at home in September and conclude their fixtures in October with matches at Niger and Morocco.
Congo have no points in the group, which Morocco lead with 15 points, six more than Tanzania in second place.
The group winner qualifies for next year’s World Cup in North America while the runner-up has a possibility to participate in playoffs if they are among the four best second-placed teams in the nine African qualifying groups.
FIFA has taken a hard line on government interference in football matters with the likes of Chad, Kenya, Pakistan and Zimbabwe among those banned in recent years.
Congo were African champions in 1972 but have never been to a World Cup.
-Reuters
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