The Diary Of African Football

The feats of African footballers are among the most positive images that Africa has to offer to the world in this era of globalization. But football has also been an important asset in African history since the beginning of the colonial era. Today, African football is a kind of mirror in which are reflected handicaps and potential of the continent: the huge material difficulties, states and country sometimes drift, but also a reservoir of exceptional football players. In this article, we try to present the African football in all its dimensions, nationwide, continent wide as well as worldwide. We will be talking about the different stages that African football has gone through to get to this level, despite the many scourges that undermine African countries.

Football is a great sport
More than a sport, football in Africa is a means or way of life for many people. At its inception, football was considered a game and not a sport. But from this ancient era to the present time, things have changed not only in the field, but especially in terms of popularity and financial investment involved in football today.

In Africa as in many other continents of the world, football quickly became a common language, without borders, where everyone can identify himself. It went from being a game to a sport, from a sport to a career and now it is a symbol of national identity and pride. Indeed, there has been a proliferation in the number of African players in European and U.S football clubs. This is undoubtedly due the high level physical and athletic condition, and the technical skills demonstrated by Africans in various international competitions in which they participate. In fact the level of African football has progressed to the point where many European football clubs consist of a majority of African players. But in the past, the situation was not like that.

 Less African footballers played abroad and most played in local clubs with shabby contracts and poor playing conditions. These circumstances enforced that few parents were able to agreed that their children dropout of school, to pursue a football career. Then raises the question about the motivations behind this awesome rise of African football, given the difficult living conditions in African countries. To answer this question, we will first talk about different development stages of African football, and then we will see, the benefits in the national and international level led by the success of African football.

The evolution of African Football

 African football since its official birth in the late 20th century, has consistently surprised observers by its emergence and continued development. One proof of African football’s fame is organizing the Football World Cup in an African country, namely South Africa, which has a wonderful team. But the road to reach this level has not been simple and much less easy. It took many years of hard work and determination to be able to have these accomplishments that are the pride of all Africans people.

Football is been played in Africa since several years. But it has not always been a success. The typical lifecycle of a footballer in general and African footballer in particular has three important steps. In infancy we played football for fun, especially for pleasure: this is just a game that we like. And then when we become adolescent, we start to realize the various career opportunities of this sport. Then we commit ourselves to this game, we train night and day, hoping that one day we can make a difference, stand out of many others and finally have a chance to evolve into a professional club. And finally there is the phase of consecration is where we see all of these efforts rewarded. We have reached one of our objectives and according to his abilities we can evolve into a professional club more or less famous. African National football has been much marked in the second stage because the local football clubs are poor and do not have all the financial and logistical advantages possessed by European clubs. Although Africa has many talented players, national football championships in Africa cannot be considered as high-level professional leagues. For the players it is considered as an interim step pending the consecration which is signing a professional contract with a European football club. Thus all the good African players play in the European high paid leagues, with a more permanent status. This is another reason why the most competent national teams are rarely made up of players from local leagues.

At the international level, African football has also been successful, even on many encounters against the giants of world football, with the power teams who have left their mark on the history of the World, such as Morocco, Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Nigeria and Senegal. The CAN (African Cup of Nation), this biennial event which is held under the auspices of the Confederation of African Football (CAF), is attracting an increasing attention worldwide, enabling the CAF to comfort its image. The sixteen teams participating animate the same ambition which is win the tournament and clinch the trophy, a dream cherished by both teams and players who aspire to be remembered for this "African World Cup".

Some players are rewarded for their efforts throughout the history of CAN, by brandishing the trophy, others, however, regarded as idols and role models in African football, and that made the happiness of some great European clubs, have left the scene without ever having been too fortunate to win the CAN.

Posted in: African,Didier Drogba,Football,Micheal Essien,samuel eto'o,Sport