FIFA president wants more World Cup spots for African nations

FIFA president Sepp Blatter would like to see a more diverse World Cup. (Fabrice Coffrini/Getty Images)

Under the current World Cup format, only five of the 54 countries in the Confederation of African Football (CAF) will earn a spot in the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, which, according to FIFA president Sepp Blatter, makes the continent "woefully under-represented."

"As long as this remains the case, African sides may never win an intercontinental trophy, regardless of progress on the playing side," Blatter wrote in FIFA's new weekly magazine. "This flawed state of affairs must be rectified."

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Blatter would like Africa's number of participants increased. The best result for an African team in the World Cup is quarterfinal appearances by Cameroon in 1990, Senegal in 2002 and Ghana in 2010.

No country from outside Europe or South America has ever won a World Cup. Of 53 European nations, 13 earn a berth, while four out of nine from South America will make it (Brazil automatically qualifies as the host nation), with a fifth earning a spot in a playoff.