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Africa football

Africa: Every Man for Himself

Africa is no closer to producing a World Cup winner than it was 20 years ago, when Cameroon’s quarterfinal appearance raised everyone’s expectations to utopian. Political interference, corruption, a lack of coaching infrastructure, a culture of give-me-mine, and the dominance of academies (which develop athleticism at the expense of creativeness) are to blame. “African football is not progressing, but more worrying is that it is not even progressing toward progress.” (Jonathan Wilson/Sports Illustrated)

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Why It’s OK to Say ‘This is Africa’s World Cup’

All of Africa is acting as if it’s co-hosting the World Cup — and justifiably so. The “othering” of Africa by Europeans has been co-opted by many Africans to become continental identification and pride. And the sport has a “transcendent role in daily life” from Accra to Nairobi. A Mauritanian feeling ownership of an event hosted thousands of kilometers away isn’t false consciousness — it’s a model for the rest of us. (Miriti Murungi/Nutmeg Radio)

Read of the Day: Mining Africa’s Soccer Youth

Africa’s countless youth academies and clubs are too often like the continent’s resource mining practices — “rampantly shady” and ruthlessly rapacious, looking for the Hope Diamond of a Drogba or an Eto’o and tossing the rest (and the community) away. One Ghanaian club is instead trying a model of responsibility — 1/5th of its proceeds go to sustainable development projects. They’re Division 2…but moving up. (Miriti Murungi/Nutmeg Radio)

Why Women in Africa Do(n’t) Play Football

Norms of beauty. Malnutrition. A preference for basketball. A lack of tampons. The things that prevent women from playing football in Africa are so legion, it’s a wonder they ever play the game. And yet they do… (Andrew Guest/Pitch Invasion)

Beyond the Vuvuzela

Beyond the Vuvuzela: Two new academic books on Africa soccer make at least this clear: that World Cup 2010 is much more than either (a) FIFA’s Disneyfied dream of a smiling, frictionless continent, or (b) South Africa as mere set design for a multinational capitalist circle jerk. (Andrew Guest/Pitch Invasion)

Unconscious Racism and West African Midfielders

It’s a self-perpetuating myth: The big European leagues prefer their West African players big and physical — doing “the unglamorous, slavish dirty work.” But does that “preference” also inform the self-conception of African players and teams?