Africa’s soccer future didn’t rely on Cup success
As countries combine sports and education, kids get more chances to thrive
GABRIEL BOUYS / AFP - Getty ImagesGhana's Asamoah Gyan walks away after missing a penalty kick.
By Stefan Lovgren
NBCSports.com contributor
updated 8:43 p.m. ET July 5, 2010
 | Stefan Lovgren |
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CAPE TOWN, South Africa - With the World Cup contenders whittled down to four, Africa is yet again left out of the mix.
You know the story: With the last kick of the Uruguay-Ghana quarterfinal match, Ghanaian striker Asamoah Gyan blasted his penalty against the crossbar.
Uruguay went on to win the penalty shoot-out, stopping the Black Stars from becoming the first African team to make the World Cup semifinals.
Oh, the heartbreak. This was supposed to be Africa's World Cup — if only because the tournament was being hosted on the continent for the first time — yet its great soccer promise once again remains unfulfilled.
But the truth is, Africa's soccer fate hardly rests on one penalty miss, however agonizing. It only underlines the narrow margins within which the World Cup gods operate.
No, Africa's real soccer future is being shaped far from the glitz and glamour of this tournament.
For much of the past year I've been traveling around Africa making a documentary film, "Africa's Game," about the future of the game on the continent, beyond the World Cup. (See a trailer here.)
Having worked in Africa for many years, I knew of the talent and passion for soccer that exists here.
Kids from the back alleys of Accra, Ghana to the beaches of Freetown, Sierra Leone all play soccer and dream of becoming professional soccer players. Makeshift "viewing halls" in the remote mountains of northern Ethiopia and the sprawling shantytowns of Lagos, Nigeria fill up every weekend with English Premiership supporters who can recite the line-ups of every Chelsea or Manchester United team during the season.
What I had failed to appreciate is the game's potential to not only produce the players who will one day win Africa the World Cup, but the enormous power of soccer to help in the transformation of a long-suffering continent.
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As Segun Odegbami, a former captain of the Nigerian national team, puts it, "Soccer is one of the most underestimated weapons of change in Africa."
The idea of soccer as a catalyst for an African transformation may seem lofty.
But if soccer has the power to reach people in Africa in a way little else does, could it be that it is in fact Africa's greatest untapped resource?
That's what I've come to believe.
At the top level, African soccer has already undergone a great transformation.
While 20 years ago there were hardly any Africans playing outside Africa, now the top leagues in Europe are filled with Africans and led by superstars like Didier Drogba and Samuel Eto'o.
At the same time, at home, much of African soccer has actually gone backward.
From the grassroots to the elite level, the lack of resources in African soccer is glaring. Sierra Leone, for example, used to have only one grass field in the whole country — at the national stadium.
The huge popularity of European soccer in Africa, particularly the English Premiership, has seen fans deserting their own leagues.
With domestic clubs struggling and unable to pay proper wages, young African players are desperate to move abroad, even if it means going to play in obscure leagues in Asia or the Middle East where their soccer development is not best served.
The vast majority of African players who dream of professional careers never get that far.
"For most of these boys, their aspirations are ultimately unrealistic," says Paul Darby, an academic at the University of Ulster in Belfast, who studies the migration of African soccer players.
The problems that plague African soccer are deeply rooted in economics and politics and may be beyond the realms of the game and its influence.
Yet there are intriguing changes afoot in African soccer.
South Africa's Premier Soccer League, benefiting from a World Cup boost, has grown rapidly in recent years and now has an annual turnover of about $65 million. Teams can afford to pay its players salaries good enough for them to stay and play in South Africa, where they can develop.
With strong organization, the South African league could become a model for the rest of Africa.
Meanwhile, a small but significant movement is emerging that seeks to combine sports and education. It's a concept familiar to Americans, but something that is relatively new to Africa where kids have traditionally been faced with a stark choice: play soccer or go to school.
Some of the soccer academies that have popped up in recent years in West Africa, in particular, place as much emphasis on academics as soccer training.
One place where I've spent some time is Right to Dream in Ghana.
When Tom Vernon, an English coach, started the academy a decade ago he sought mainly to develop young African soccer talent. Since then, the mission has changed.
The academy has seen three graduates sign professional contracts in Europe — and Vernon is confident some of his kids will one day make it to the World Cup for Ghana — but many more graduates have gone on to get high school and college scholarships in the U.S. and the U.K.
"We want to give these kids alternatives," says Vernon.
Another program the organization runs in Sierra Leone, a country still emerging from a decade-long civil war, demonstrated to me the change that soccer can bring about in communities.
There, 1,600 kids play soccer in the Bellamy League — named after its sponsor, Manchester City striker Craig Bellamy — which finished its first season earlier this year.
League points are awarded to teams not just based on match results, but also school attendance, fair play, and participation in community projects.
While only 20 percent of the kids went to school before league play began, 80 percent of them do now, according to the organizers. Why? Because everyone wants to play soccer, and if you don't go to school, you can't play the game.
"This is the generation that will take Sierra Leone to the World Cup," predicts Durosimi Thomas, the program director.
It is also the generation that will help rebuild Sierra Leone.
The promise of African soccer may not have been met just yet, but soon Africa will win the World Cup. When that moment comes, soccer may have accomplished so much more than just bringing the trophy to the continent.
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