When it comes to international football, most fans could take it or leave it. There are obviously some that would sooner see their club side win a throw-in than the international team of their country win a major tournament, but for many others there is just a sense of indifference. Those that are particularly passionate about international football tend to support teams lower down the English Football League pyramid or, at the very least, sides that are unlikely to be competitive on an international front. What you might not realise, though, is that there are many who actually pit international tournaments against one another.
The Fédération internationale de football association, better known as FIFA, is responsible for numerous confederations, all of whom have their own international competitions that are played on a regular basis. For UEFA, that competition is the European Championship, whilst for the Confederation of African Football it is AFCON, or the Africa Cup of Nations. The two competitions have their own quirks and foibles, but it is common for Western people to assume that the Euros are more interesting. The question is, is there any evidence to suggest that that is the case, or is it an entirely Western-focused agenda from some?
Quality of Opponents
In order to get a sense of what each competition offers, it is worth having a look at the quality of opponents on show. It isn’t that we’re looking at whether the best teams in the world play in the tournament but rather what the difference between the levels of the teams actually is. Here is a look at the 2023 AFCON tournament and the teams involved as well as their World Ranking at the time:
| Team | Official World Ranking |
| Ivory Coast | 50 |
| Morocco | 13 |
| Senegal | 20 |
| Tunisia | 29 |
| Algeria | 34 |
| Egypt | 35 |
| Nigeria | 40 |
| Cameroon | 41 |
| Mali | 49 |
| Burkina Faso | 58 |
| Ghana | 60 |
| DR Congo | 64 |
| South Africa | 65 |
| Cape Verde | 71 |
| Guinea | 81 |
| Zambia | 82 |
| Equatorial Guinea | 92 |
| Mauritania | 99 |
| Guinea-Bissau | 106 |
| Mozambique | 113 |
| Namibia | 114 |
| Angola | 117 |
| Gambia | 118 |
| Tanzania | 122 |
| Team | Official World Ranking |
| Ivory Coast | 50 |
| Morocco | 13 |
| Senegal | 20 |
| Tunisia | 29 |
| Algeria | 34 |
| Egypt | 35 |
| Nigeria | 40 |
| Cameroon | 41 |
| Mali | 49 |
| Burkina Faso | 58 |
| Ghana | 60 |
| DR Congo | 64 |
| South Africa | 65 |
| Cape Verde | 71 |
| Guinea | 81 |
| Zambia | 82 |
| Equatorial Guinea | 92 |
| Mauritania | 99 |
| Guinea-Bissau | 106 |
| Mozambique | 113 |
| Namibia | 114 |
| Angola | 117 |
| Gambia | 118 |
| Tanzania | 122 |
Whilst you can see there is a big spread between the team, with the top-ranked team having a World Ranking of 13 compared to the lowest-ranking team of 122, many of the games will have seen teams go up against others that are on a similar level to one another. In fact, the overall winning side in the 2023 AFCON was Ivory Coast, with a World Ranking of 50, defeating the team ranked 40, Nigeria, in the final. The average World Ranking of all of the teams that took part in the 24-side tournament was 69.70.
Now here is a look at the 24 teams that took part in the European Championship in 2020:
| Team | Official World Ranking |
| Belgium | 1 |
| Italy | 13 |
| Russia | 38 |
| Austria | 26 |
| Croatia | 6 |
| Czech Republic | 45 |
| England | 4 |
| Denmark | 16 |
| Finland | 58 |
| France | 2 |
| Germany | 15 |
| Hungary | 52 |
| Netherlands | 14 |
| North Macedonia | 68 |
| Poland | 19 |
| Portugal | 7 |
| Scotland | 50 |
| Slovakia | 32 |
| Spain | 8 |
| Sweden | 17 |
| Switzerland | 12 |
| Turkey | 29 |
| Ukraine | 24 |
| Wales | 23 |
| Team | Official World Ranking |
| Belgium | 1 |
| Italy | 13 |
| Russia | 38 |
| Austria | 26 |
| Croatia | 6 |
| Czech Republic | 45 |
| England | 4 |
| Denmark | 16 |
| Finland | 58 |
| France | 2 |
| Germany | 15 |
| Hungary | 52 |
| Netherlands | 14 |
| North Macedonia | 68 |
| Poland | 19 |
| Portugal | 7 |
| Scotland | 50 |
| Slovakia | 32 |
| Spain | 8 |
| Sweden | 17 |
| Switzerland | 12 |
| Turkey | 29 |
| Ukraine | 24 |
| Wales | 23 |
In the strictest sense, there is no question that the Euros shows better teams playing one another. At the same time, the difference between them is such that it makes for a less interesting tournament. That is to say, seeing the team ranked first in the world playing the team ranked 32nd shows a huge disparity between the sides, whereas the team ranked 60th playing the team ranked 92nd isn’t as bigger difference. Yes, the football on show is arguably better, as you’d expect given the average of 24.12 on display in the Euros, but the likelihood of an upset is much lower because of the quality of the teams that are playing.
Goals Per Game
In terms of entertainment, what most people want to see is goals being scored. Whilst many of us enjoy a brilliant tackle or a good save, the reality is that it is goals that get people out of their seats. With that in mind, we can have a look at the average number of goals that were scored in the two tournaments that we’re looking at here.
In the 2023 African Cup of Nations, the average number of goals per game was 2.29. In the 2020 European Championship, meanwhile, an average of 2.78 goals were scored. What is worth noting, though, is the fact that that was a record number of goals per game for the competition. According to freebetoffers.org.uk the average goals per game in the Euros overall is 2.39, so not that far away from the number scored in the 2023 AFCON.
Does that mean that the Euros is significantly more exciting than AFCON? The fact that the 2020 European Championship was a record will have dragged that average up a wee bit, to say nothing of the fact that it is clearly an outlier. If that number of goals per game were to become the standard in European Championship matches then you could make an argument that it means it’s more exciting, but for the moment you’d probably have to say that it is a draw.
Conclusion
There are obviously plenty of different metrics that you could look at when trying to decide whether one competition is better than another. We have taken a look at a chosen two here, but there are many others that you could pick and choose depending on what you think makes something more exciting than something else. If you love sending offs, for example, then you might want to know which tournament it is that sees the most red cards flying in.
Ultimately, of course, it doesn’t really matter which tournament is the most exciting. The reality is that football fans are the winners the more exciting competition becomes. UEFA’s plan to further dilute the ability of the teams in the Euros by extending the number of teams playing in it certainly won’t help. At the same time, FIFA is determined to make Africa the next great frontier of football, so it might well be that even if Europe is the better continent for football at the moment, that might not last forever.
