Who are you cheering for in the World Cup?

Date: 11 June 2010

4 June 2010

We have recently launched www.whoshouldicheerfor.com – a website that ranks the countries playing in the World Cup based on development and social justice indicators such as income inequality, maternal mortality rates and carbon emissions per capita.

This means that if you want to support a team that gives aid generously, you could choose to cheer for Denmark or the Netherlands. And if you wanted to choose a low carbon country, you could choose Cameroon or Ghana.

The site is not an overall ranking of how ‘good’ or ‘bad’ we think each country is. It is intended to be a fun and interesting way to think about the serious issues of global poverty and the inequality between the nations competing in the World Cup. 

For example, Nigeria is the poorest country in the World Cup with an income of £730 per person a year. It takes England centre-back John Terry just ten minutes to earn the same. Some of the poorest countries in the world are playing in South Africa and we think that we should cheer for them.

We have also put together a great team of bloggers from a range of organisations who will write daily during the World Cup on issues around football and social justice.

So, who will you cheer for?

Visit www.whoshouldicheerfor.com to get involved.