European clubs own more than 80 percent of Africa’s World Cup players. Final squad lists show that 112 of the 138 players are based in Europe and one in Asia (Qatar). Nigeria’s entire team is made up of players competing in nine different European countries!
Let’s break down the rest. Ivory Coast: 22 out of 23 (in 11 European countries); Cameroon: 22 out of 23 (9 countries); Algeria: 20 out of 23 (9 countries); Ghana: 19 out of 23 (9 countries); South Africa: 7 out of 23 (5 countries). The Big 5 leagues — England, Spain, Italy, Germany and France – capture the lion’s share of Africa’s World Cup players, 70 percent to be precise.
South Africa represents an anomaly due to its well-endowed Premier Soccer League, ranked in the Top 10 of the world’s richest leagues. If we were to take South Africa’s team members out of the equation, then 93 percent of Africans in this year’s World Cup are based in overseas clubs. And five of the nine players still playing club football in Africa are goalkeepers.
‘After the flight of brains Africa is confronted with the muscle exodus,’ noted Issa Hayatou, President of CAF. ‘The rich countries import the raw material — talent — and they often send to the continent their less valuable technicians. The inequality of the exchange terms is indisputable. It creates a situation of dependence and the impoverishment of some clubs . . . and of national championships.’ Paradoxically, the more African superstars like Drogba shine in Europe’s elite leagues, the more likely everyday football on African soil will suffer.
Category: Players
Categories
Slaves to Football
African players are at the heart of the top clubs in Europe: Chelsea revolves around John Obi Mikel and Michael Essien in the middle and Didier Drogba upfront. All three left Africa as teenagers or earlier. Some through family members or through football agents. Similarly take Samuel Eto’o who has been common to the recent success of first Barcelona and now Inter Milan. Eto’o went to Spain as a 14 year old to Real Madrid. None of these players had to deal with sham agents or had to come through unofficial football academies, common all over West Africa. But these players are exceptions in a lucrative trade of trafficking African players to Europe.
And they will never play at the World Cup, less a lucrative European league.
Via Al Jazeera English.
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The Church of Leo Messi is Open!
There is a Church of Maradona in Argentina with 120,000 members, but rumor has it that the Church of Leo Messi has opened its doors and its membership may soon reach into the millions. I’ve lost track of how many hat tricks, foot tricks, long-distance surface-to-air missiles, slaloms, chips, far-post benders, headers and assists Barcelona’s King of Football has given us. Pure joy.
There is hope that the hyper-fit, inverted pyramid, cynical and suffocating football so dominant in recent times will not completely silence the magical qualities of the beautiful game.
Yes, I have had a soft spot for Barca ever since my brother took me to see Sandro Ciotti’s Il Profeta del Gol — a film about Cruyff with jaw-dropping goals from his azulgrana days — but what Messi is giving us transcends football loyalties. Simply put, Messi is why I love football. Venite adoremus . . .
The Old Lady of Italian football was humiliated 0-3 by struggling Udinese this weekend, making it 12 losses and 47 goals against in 32 serie A matches this season. After this latest embarrassment, the formerly powerful and prestigious Juventus FC apologized to millions of fans and began a ‘silenzio stampa’ (no media interviews until further notice).
Yet Marcello Lippi continues to live in an alternate universe and appears ready to go to South Africa with between half and two-thirds of the Azzurri’s starting 11 from Juve’s ranks. Tired pensioners like Cannavaro, Legrottaglie, Camoranesi and Grosso are like a concrete block around Italy’s neck. Unless Lippi has a last-minute change-of-heart, then expect the Azzurri to sink fast come June.
When people ask me ‘Who will win the 2010 World Cup’ I tell them either Spain or England. Loaded with talent in the middle and up front, Spain have been magnificent in the past 3 years, as the Euro 2008 crown and the subsequent winning streak demonstrated. Meanwhile, Capello has resurrected an English side that didn’t even qualify for Euro 2008, mixing tactical acumen with more traditional Anglo attributes and an experienced player corps.
But my World Cup final prediction hangs on Wayne Rooney’s health. His severe ankle sprain suffered in the dying seconds of ManU’s last-gasp defeat to Bayern Munich not only complicates my future career as a pundit (ha!), but threatens the Red Devils’ title chase and England’s quest for World Cup glory.
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The Goal of the Century?
Is Lionel Messi’s second goal (above) of his hat-trick against Real Zaragoza in Spain’s La Liga an early contender for Goal of the Century?
The goal will have to compete with one he scored another Spanish club, Getafe, last year:
An African club is the first to enter into a formal partnership with the Professional Football Players Observatory in Switzerland. ASEC MIMOSAS of Abidjan (Ivory Coast) — a powerhouse of West Africa and past winner of the CAF Champions League — will work with the PFPO to identify leagues and clubs that offer the best career opportunities for young Ivorians trained at ASEC’s well-known MimoSifcom Academy. According to PFPO, Ivory Coast supplies the largest number of players to Europe’s Big 5 leagues. Is this latest collaboration a mutually beneficial deal or a form of neo-colonialism?