the colonial era still determines
Africas scene today: from the artificial states to the economical situation
anglophone vs. francophone football:
yet the former English colonies have been more successful
West African magicians vs. organized
North Africans: especially the football of the first mentioned is changing
towards 'Europeanization'
East- Central and Southern Africans
with a more pragmatic football
European based professionals
vs. home based players and coaching staff - different attitudes, different
styles
Fast development also of the
basis: Information on the game via TV is absorbed unconciously and normally
today
football schools will effect
the African game in the next decades
note: all those 'views' or
better metaphors below have something in common: they regard things from
a certain angle, making a particular aspect visible by filtering out others.
So all ideas given are only aspects, not monophone explainations
Africa's football history
and thus even presence has been predetermined by the colonialisation and
its effects. First of all the countries we know today would not have existed
without the European occupation of the continent. They do not represent
neither the peoples, nor the languages. Like Nigeria, most countries consist
of different ethinics with different languages and different backgrounds,
for Europeans most easily to compare to states like the former big Yugoslavia,
before 1990. What already says something about the problems that occur
from such constructions.
Adding to mixed ethnies
are the ties to the former colonial superpowers. Apart from Egypt, Ethiopia,
and Liberia those countries did not come into being before the wave of
independance around 1960. Although the colonial powers had brought football
to Africa, they avoided anything that could have built a national identity.
In most countries they used one people to control the others. So African
football history, especially the one of National selections just began
in the 1960's. The first two African Nations Cups had had only three participiants
and the first real African World Cup qualification with an own African
place at the finals to play for was the one for 1970.
Many African leaders
have recognized since football as one of the few appropriate tools for
Nation building, as a vehicle that makes the idea of National identity
concious to their peoples. A famous example is Mobutu and his early support
for the Zaire team around 1970. A report on this issue can be found in
two 2000 issues of the magazine 'African Soccer'.
It had been of course
the English colonies who had been first dominating the scene. Egypt had
already developed a long tradition with Olympic successes and a World Cup
participation before the second world war and thus dominated the scene
in the beginning with the former English colony of Sudan and Ethiopia,
only occupied by Italians from 1935-1942. The most talent though grew from
West Africa, and the former English colonies Ghana with very soon success
and Nigeria with underachievement nevertheless began to dominate the scene
soon. In 1965 the first former French colonies started to smell success
and in 1968 the first non-English colony won the Nations Cup. English and
French have left different ideas and attitudes towards the game and anglophone
Africa has been more successful at the Nations Cup. But not all stories
are that simple: Cameroon had been occupied by Germany and after the first
world war been devided among British and French.
Two even more contrastive
poles are the styles of North African football and West African football.
It is a bit dangerous to distribute such commonplaces but West Africans
have been more magicians and especially in the recent past physically strong
athletes whereas the strength of the North Africans is their organisation
and cooperative game. While the North African football has developed in
a consistent tempo, the game of the rest of Africa has changed more drastically
in recent past. The 'chaos' on the field of past generations which had
either been utilized by European counterparts (big defeats for Zaire 1974,
but also for Cameroon against Russia 1990 and 1994) or had puzzled them
(Cameroon 1990 for example showed both faces especially in that legendary
quarter final against England) has been abandoned in favour of an adaption
of the kinds of organisation and approach the players have learned in their
European clubs. With the side-effect that their surprise potential has
decreased as they offer a familiar face to European opponents now.
But this does not count
in the African Cup Of Nations. Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroon have switched to
teams consisting in majority of Europe stars, a conversion in attitude
and style. This creates problems with their home administrations. Players
do not get the comfort they are used to, they feel to have received a better
education in Europe than football officials and even coaches in their country
and sometimes refuse to listen to them. And they are accused of not serving
the country as committed as they should from the other sides.
At least those teams
avoid another problem: In former generations and in smaller football nations
there has been also a gap between those professionals and home based players,
reflected in a constant media discussion whether to include or exclude
abroad playing stars at all.
Nevertheless the football
has developed fast, also with knowledge drawn from European football. But
another fact might be underestimated: the learning through TV. It is not
reflected but watching football on TV makes a lot of difference. And TV
has arrived later at homes in Africa than Europe. This might be an explaination
why there have been conspicious tactical progresses in the game of non-top-class
teams. Remarkably the blunders have decreased from Nations Cup and Nations
Cup and even the talent-deprived clubs (expatriation to Europe) play a
quite decent game. Last proven by Raja Casablanca: Though the best African
players move from Africa to Europe, making European teams stronger and
African teams weaker, Raja gave Real a real scare at the World Club Championships.
Though the money gap
has dramatically increased and though a huge player expatriation especially
from West Africa has taken place, West Africa could be prognosted to produce
the first World Champion of the continent once. Despite the involvement
of many former stars into the process has been neglected a lot of initiatives
surprise like the forming of many football schools. Some of those schools
are trying to develop their own ideology. Whether the former West African
flamboyance that could last be seen with Côte d'Ivoire 1998 will
survive Europeanisation of the game reamins to be seen.
East- Central and Southern
Africans play a more pragmatic style than the like from the West. So they
have been found recently as easily adoptable for the European game. Example
are the increasing number of players from that regions in German professional
football.
North Africans in
the meantime have constantly improved structures and organisation especially
off the field and because of this they have been able to match the rapid
development of the rest of Africa and still claim their share of success.
Climate and circumstanzes
is an important factor, but it does not necessarily determine the outcome:
Though the last Nations Cup 1998 already has taken place in West Africa,
the winners have been Egypt. |