Reference:

Acheampong, E.Y., Bouhaouala, M., & Raspaud, M. (2020). Socioeconomic Analysis of African
Footballers’ Migration to Europe: Elements for Decision Making based on the West African
Case. In C. Onwumechili (Ed.), Domestic Football: Structure, Politics, and Every Day
Challenges (pp.58-73). New York, USA: Routledge.

Chapter 5

Socioeconomic Analysis of African Footballers' Migration to Europe: Elements for

Decision Making based on the West African case

Abstract
European Union’s (EU) decision to enact rules and laws to support the free movement of sports workers,
like professional footballers in EU space is different from African governments, which barely enact
policies to support the socioeconomic development of sport, particularly football in their countries.
However, African governments have persistently used football to achieve their domestic policies and
electoral strategies in proclaiming liberation from former colonial powers. This asymmetric
socioeconomic development of sport in Africa and the EU informed the study to explore how African
governments can adopt appropriate policies on sport to create socioeconomic growth and opportunities
for its populace. Our research on African footballers analyzes the case of West African players’
migration to Europe and the uneven growth of football markets in Africa and EU. Findings reveal that
the migration of African players to Europe is linked to the weak African football structures and the
economic transformation of the European football market. Here, footballers have adapted their strategies
and ambitions to the situation, the rules and the means that the new football market, European clubs and
structures (e. g: academies, agents, scouts, etc.) offer to them.

Key Words: African players, Africa Union, EU, socioeconomic benefits, migration, football structures.

Introduction
Sport has become a powerful instrument that transcends barriers where little else can (Mandela, 2000).1
Sport is sometimes a vector of propaganda, especially in the Global South but for the Global North, it is
a vector of social cohesion and opportunities for economic development. Football clearly illustrates this
differentiated relationship in Africa and Western European countries. This explains the European
Union’s (EU) decision to enact rules and laws to support the free movement of sports workers, like
professional footballers2 in EU space. Contrarily, African governments barely enact appropriate
measures to support the socioeconomic development of sport, particularly football in their countries.

Also, the EU decision provides a platform for promoting social and economic activities apart from other
numerous potentials of the sport. EU recognizes sports as a critical vehicle for providing important
economic benefits across its member states and essential tool in EU external relations. This illustrates
the EU decision to streamline activities of sports by introducing effective policies to bring sanity and
fairness to the sector. This has supported the fast growth of economic activities linked to sport. For

1
example, in France, sport accounts for 1.77 % of national GDP in 2008 (Andreff, 2010, p. 14) and rose
to 1.8 % in 2013 with €38.1 billion (Les chiffres clés du sport, 2017, p. 6). On one hand, the African
Union (AU) appreciates sport as one of the key domains in which African countries have made their
mark by rising above the constraints of poverty and discord (AU Commission, 2008). While European
countries are developing socioeconomic activities related to football, African governments have
persistently used it to achieve domestic policies and electoral strategies in proclaiming liberation from
former colonial powers.

Nevertheless, African sport has challenges including lack of professionalism and limited opportunities
at home for its athletes (Darby, 2000; 2002; 2007; 2009; Poli, 2008; 2010; Lanfranchi and Taylor, 2001;
Acheampong, 2018a), disorganization, cheating, corruption, conflicts of interests, violence, racism,
intolerance, scandals, and superstitions (AU Commission, 2008), and insufficient sporting facilities and
equipment affecting sport development. These challenges have created limited opportunities in Africa
and have disempowered elite sports athletes from reaching their full potentials. Based on this, the study
analyzes how African governments can adopt appropriate policies on sport to create socioeconomic
growth and opportunities for its populace. This is important because African governments rarely approve
of policies that can support the development of social and economic activities of sport and particularly,
football in their countries. Some of the problems are glaringly leading to migration of African footballers
to the best championships and prestigious clubs in the EU countries. Thus, the policies we suggest are
major internal responses to emigration of players.

The uneven socioeconomic development of sport in Africa and the EU creates an enormous appeal of
talent in favor of the latter. This attractiveness is obvious regarding the rise in the number of African
players moving to the best championships and prestigious clubs in Europe. The pull is largely derived
from EU’s proactive measures or regulations on sport, which permeates all sectors of their economies
and impacts job creation and national growth. Examining the case of West African players that migrate
to the European leagues may help explain the uneven growth of football markets in Africa and EU. The
concept is to elucidate how migration of talents was gradually structured in Europe and Africa from the
1980s to present. The knowledge can provide insight into the migration of footballers from West Africa
to Europe and link that to the growth of the European football market in terms of sport and economic
performances. With reference to three periods (1980s, 1990s and 2000s), we can assist policymakers to
develop effective measures or regulations that address footballers and adapts to new football markets by
using a variety of strategies, goals, rules, clubs and structures (e. g: academies, agents, scouts, among
others). Beyond that, it permits us to understand whether the AU policy framework for sustainable
development of sport in Africa is a mirage or it stimulates economic, social and cultural development in
the continent.

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From this study, we outline an important role in understanding the rationale behind the emigration of
West African players and how AU policies on sport support their development. By linking the
phenomenon to the evolution of European and African football, we find support to help assess the
framework that has improved Europe’s leagues and competitions. Lastly, we discuss and recommend to
African governments, possibly CAF (Confederation of African Football), to adopt effective policies on
African football and footballers’ migration that may contribute meaningfully to make football
socioeconomically attractive and improve job creation and local growth. This is inspired by the EU
model and approach to the sport.

The Evolution of European and African football

The evolution of football from amateurism to commodification dates far back to the 1950s with debates
on the subject. Football started to gain popularity with the introduction of underage competitions by the
International Federation of Football Associations (FIFA) and its member associations in the 1980s. From
then onwards, FIFA achieved an unexpectedly high level of income from television rights for the World
Cup (Eisnberg, 2006). It was part of FIFA’s policy direction towards developing the business activities
of football. This achievement is derived from an effective mechanism of regulations that support the
growth of the game worldwide. Unfortunately, there is a dearth of studies on the economic relationship
regarding European football and African football from the 1980s to the present.

In the early 1990s, total improvement in the game was observed when FIFA, together with its
confederations, strategized to establish a strong relationship with the media industry as partners. Sudgen
and Tomlinson (1998) admitted the prominent role of FIFA and the Union of European Football
Associations (UEFA) in the marketing of football with tournaments such as the World Cup and the
UEFA Champions League. Decisions on the marketing of those products were not in isolation but they
were guided by policies on sport. For instance, the EU commission outlined laws to regulate the activities
of the film and sports market industry regarding television rights. They defined a separate market for the
wholesale supply of film and sports channels identifying movies and sport as the “key sales drivers” for
pay-television operators.3 The EU commission charted effective measures to curtail rivalry among
competing broadcasters for television rights. This encouraged robust and fair competition among right
holders within territories. This also ensures a strategic marketing approach to make football more visible
in new countries called hometown.4 Now, most European clubs participate in international competitions
organized in Asia and America as part of their pre-season preparations. Clearly, it is another way for
UEFA clubs to increase their fan base globally while cashing in economically on various products. This
includes the clubs selling souvenirs, getting revenues from gate proceeds, and attracting investors to
their leagues.

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In essence, the globalized game has transformed from amateurism to professionalism. It is now a
dominating global sport that reaches a large audience and it is popular in almost every corner of the
globe. European football has improved due to the convergence of several structural factors including
economic, sociological, and political (Acheampong, 2017). This is credit to the effective backing from
the EU policy framework on sport facilitating strong linkages to the rest of their economy and making
it strategically essential in their national growth, according to the SportsEconAustria (2012). Thus;

i. sport is an important economic sector,

ii. it represents a labour-intensive growth industry,
iii. it can foster convergence across the EU member states and
iv. it has growth-enhancing specialization advantages.

This reaffirms EU’s strong position on the value of sport to their cultural, social and national economy.
In Europe, football is very attractive in terms of economic, quality of life, political stability and
marketability (Acheampong and Bouhaouala, 2019). In comparison, in Africa, there is a big gap
concerning the game’s increasing popularity, quality of international players, and attractiveness of
leagues, economy, level of play, mediatization and commercialization aspects (Acheampong, 2017).

The factors identified above, according to some scholars, facilitate the movement of international talents
to European leagues providing a one-directional perspective of athletics mobility (Agergaard and
Tiesler, 2014). Other scholars defined them as the push or pull factors that support mobility of football
players to Europe (Lanfranchi and Talyor, 2001). The evolution of European football has positioned
Europe ahead of many places and competitions because of the leagues’ ability to attract nationals from
all the other continents. This can also be attributed to the effects of the Bosman ruling (cf 1995) that
granted free movement of workers of EU member states. In addition, the effect also comes from bilateral
trade agreement policy between EU and non-EU countries. For instance, in 2000, the Cotonou
Agreement included 78 states from Africa, the Caribbean, and the Pacific, with the exception of Cuba.
Some of these regulations strengthened Europe’s economic activity in all sectors. Some positive effects
can be observed in European football competitions and leagues. Football, as a professional sport in
Europe, provides a means to understand the behaviors of the labor market, which is partly influenced
and regulated by the rules and laws of the EU.

The EU policy on sport has reinforced European leagues and competitions to a level that it tends to
inform the marketing strategy of clubs and federations to attract foreign supporters and sponsors
globally. For instance, the English Premiership has attracted investors to acquire shares in prestigious
clubs that are considered economically attractive with high media visibility (Millward, 2011). This is an

4
indication of appropriate policy direction on sport that enchants investors to the sector, impacting a
country’s economy. Football labor migration provides a two-way benefit for the donor and host countries
when talent becomes financially successful. However, it can also have negative effects on both donor
and host countries as well (Maguire, Jarvie, Mansfield, and Bradley, 2002, p.37).

Since 1995 the ‘top five’ European championships (English, Spanish, German, Italian and French) have
dominated as the host to most of the top international players (Poli, Ravenel, and Besson, 2016). The
leagues in those countries are attractive and socioeconomically viable with improved social life and
stability. The leagues, also, tend to have the highest economic worth because of huge broadcasting rights
and sponsorships that increase in value upon subsequent renewals (Sudgen and Tomlinson, 1998). This
has contributed to attracting diverse international players and at the same time increased ‘hometown’
territories for those leagues in the global South. These developments led to Deloitte labelling football as
big business in its 2008 report (Giulianotti, 2005; Kunene, 2006). These successes are not surprising
because the leagues are well structured and competitive in supporting socioeconomic development. They
have achieved that status with the backing of the EU strategic policy on sport for promoting member
states’ football development. They each absorb a certain number of foreign migrant players in teams
each year (Poli, Ravenel, and Besson, 2016). Furthermore, some clubs within the distance of 100km
from national borders recruit talented minors across those borders. These minors are used to improve
returns on investment after resale of their contract rights in future transfers.

Football Labor Migration Policy Attempts

In the 1960s, some African countries like Ghana and the Democratic Republic of Congo tried to use
football to promote pan-Africanism (Darby, 2010). The first president of Ghana, after independence,
Kwame Nkrumah recognized football’s usefulness in mobilizing the youth around a common identity.
He understood the value of sporting victories in creating pride and self-respect for the people of Africa
(Darby, 2010, p. 23). Consequently, Nkrumah invested heavily in sport and prevented Ghanaian players’
emigration. As part of his policy for driving sport in 1961, the national team (the Black Stars) toured
Europe playing 12 matches, won 8, drew 1, and lost 3. When the team returned, in the following year,
they played Real Madrid (featuring Puskas, one of the world’s best players at that time) in a match which
ended 3:3 at the Accra Sports Stadium in February 1962. All this was in preparation towards the 1963
Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), which the Black Stars won. Similarly, his compatriot from Congo,
General Joseph Mobutu, passed laws in 1968 that restricted the movement of Congolese players seeking
to play abroad. This was enforced by the Commission for Youth and Sports of the central government,
a move that effectively placed a moratorium on football labor migration (Poli, 2006). Both African
leaders’ behavior could have been a strategy to oppose the enrichment of European leagues with African
football talents and prospects (Darby, 2010, p. 30). However, their approaches could not be sustainable

5
without the backing of continent-wide laws by the Organization for African Unity (OAU), which
preceded the current African Union (AU).

In response to migration of African players, CAF in 1965 introduced a rule that prevented African teams
from featuring more than two overseas-based players in the AFCON (Radnege, 1998). It was mainly to
mitigate against the exodus of its football talents from their domestic leagues. The OAU should have
taken a bold step towards some of these initiatives by enacting policy on sport, which could help protect
and respectfully maintain the best African football talents at home. CAF rescinded its earlier decision
on the rule in 1982 (Radnege, 1998) and has since not developed an effective strategy to deal with exodus
of African footballers.

Until AU and CAF begin to appreciate the immense social and economic activities of football, it will be
difficult for them to enact appropriate policy to support the promotion and development of the sport.
However, Acheampong (2017) has argued that football in the 1990s created socioeconomic
opportunities for African players, which raised their social status in the communities. With this new
development, some parents, family members and the community began to appreciate what a professional
activity in football can offer to young people. Consequently, sustained football migration from West
Africa was observed in the 2000s, as football became a professional activity in the continent
(Acheampong, 2017; Acheampong and Bouhaouala, 2019).

Despite the attempts made in the 1960s to protect and streamline the migration of African footballers,
much has not been done to improve the situation. This could be laid at the doorstep of African
governments since they have failed to recognize the economic and social values of sport to job creation
and national development. Reconsidering this can contribute to making footballer migration more
secure, respectful, and more protective for individuals and African communities. Therefore, it will be
appropriate for various stakeholders in the sports industry to combine their efforts through policy
implementation to bring transformation to football development in Africa.

Methods and Materials

EU policy on sport could be a good model for the AU to emulate in order to develop effective policies
on sports and contribute to social and economic activities of member countries. In achieving this, the
study used data extracted from documents of international player transfers, club websites, sports
websites, football federations and national websites, policy documents from EU and AU on sports,
academic journals and reports concerning the impact sport has on the economy of EU member states.
Also used are materials from Acheampong’s doctoral research (2017), which focused on the theme
‘African footballers in Europe.’

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Interviews and observations were used to enrich the discussion. Interviewees included former and
current African professional players who shared their views on football development in Africa. Formal
and informal interviews were conducted with (10) former and (8) current players, including those
recorded on television and radio programmes. They comprise of 8 from the first league, 6 from league
two and 4 from league three. They were aged between 19-53 with national team experiences. Players
who left their local communities at pre-teen were considered for the study because of their social
embeddedness. Those included in the study have spent between 1- 20 years playing professionally in
the leagues of England, Spain, Germany, Italy, France, Switzerland, Turkey, Greece, Netherlands,
Belgium, Portugal, Russia, Ukraine and Nordic regions. Most of the interviewees were from West Africa
(Senegal, Nigeria, Ghana, Cȏte d'Ivoire, Sierra Leone) with a few from Zambia, Cameroun and Kenya.
Interviewees were selected due to their availability. Some refused to be interviewed based on personal
reasons while others could not respond because of their busy schedules. The interview sessions lasted
between 25 to 98 minutes and, recorded and transcribed.

To understand the players’ views on the subject, we draw on their football career path, from their
domestic leagues through their international development (Acheampong and Bouhaouala, 2019) and
experiences abroad. This supported the comprehension of their contributions on how African football
can be promoted and developed in the continent. The fieldwork lasted for over five years from 2013 to
2019.

Discussion and results

Footballers’ migration strategies to leagues in Europe
Evidence from the evolution of African football demonstrates that football plays a social role of
integrating young people in their local communities (Acheampong, 2017). Although football has seen
some transformation, it remains insufficient to help overcome the challenges bedevilling the
development of the sport in Africa. Such challenges include the lack of infrastructure, ineffective
administrative measures and the lukewarm attitude towards the promotion of sport, especially
professional football, as suggested by some scholars. All those challenges are shrouded in the lack of
effective policies to promote the development of the sport. These constraining factors serve as a
precursor for West African players to adopt a wide-range of strategies to the situation.

All interviewees admitted their football career started from the street to inter-street competitions with
their social groups (Acheampong, 2018b). Some trekked distances of 5km to play with other people in
villages or towns. Indirectly, street football activity has contributed to the discovery of most African
players. This is not the case in Europe where most communities have considerable sporting facilities and
recreational centers around its inhabitants. This structure of facility location supports the EU policy on

7
sport and plays a significant role in its member states’ activities. Yet, in African communities’ young
people can practice sport everywhere provided it brings them happiness, which interviewees testified.
Anaba shared his childhood experience:

In my community where I grew up, you could play everywhere. People will give you space to
play though it is something you might not value if you happen to consider things here (Europe)
you will realize that these things were important.5

With the availability of space for young people to have fun, there has not been much improvement in
the sporting facilities around many African communities. Yet, sport can promote an individual’s health
and fitness and shape the wider African society. Nevertheless, facilities are lacking and raise concerns
for governments to figure out effective measures to remedy some of these issues.

Findings from Acheampong’s research (2017) identified three options by which young players create
opportunities to manoeuvre around the porous system and ineffective policy constraints to emigrate
abroad. Thus;

i) street football activities introduced them to formal and informal pieces of training.
ii) some are nurtured, refined and developed in structured football academies that include Afro-
European partnership model, private and philanthropy model, and federations’ academies
across Africa continent (Darby, Akindes, and Kirwin, 2007). Others had informal training
from schools, social groups and non-affiliated teams without proper structures but feel
obliged to support young people within the communities to harness their football talents.
This is often spearheaded by football enthusiasts as a social contribution to identify and
support young people with football talent. It creates an opportunity for some to join clubs
and local leagues.
iii) For exposure, others joined community-based clubs, corporate-owned, privately owned, or
national juvenile leagues organized by federations. Some had the opportunity to play for
their national teams and that gave them international exposure and visibility to the European
football market. Informal and formal networks linked young boys to various clubs and
leagues across Africa. After this exposure, the young players’ ambitions to emigrate were
supported with human, material, social, and network resources.

Analysis of players’ different migration strategies contribute to developing a typology of their

itineraries devoid of any policy limitations. These are categorized into three main types;

8
 a) Individual resource-based itinerary: This involves footballers who take their own initiative and
efforts to move by mobilizing own funds, personal relations and networks. It is often to fulfil
personal desires or ambitions or achieve self-esteem in their professional career by exploring
their social environment through crafty approach. This is an adventurous and risky itinerary. It
is intrepid because of the absence of policy control for athletes on sport migration.

b) Collective resource-based itinerary: Footballers may derive resources from family, parents,
extended family and many distant relatives that support them in achieving their professional
status abroad. It includes sending their young boys to study, relocation, reunion with family
members or reconnect with their exiled and expelled parents or families abroad. Through that,
they improve their football talents because they have access to better conditions or environment
to support their development. Players often adopt emerging and deliberate strategies to move
and play in leagues abroad (Mintzberg and Waters, 1985). Because of lack of policy direction
on sport, families, parents, relatives and friends are forced to exploit opportunities to support
their migration abroad.

c) Formal network resource- based itinerary: Here football players are connected to scouts, agents,
and sports agencies that take the responsibility of organizing the needed support services and
documentation to facilitate their movement abroad. It includes club officials, local managers,
coaches and teammates acting as recruitment referral (Agegaard and Tiesler, 2014). It comprises
both collective and individual resources as they tend to act as a ‘cling’ for players and their host
clubs. Players adopt a deliberate strategy by finding ways of increasing their resources.

African players’ ability to strategize and manoeuvre to achieve their professional dream abroad can be
credited to the EU policy on sport in conjunction with the transfer regulations enacted by FIFA. Some
individuals employ a risky approach by road through borders of African countries. The high risk
associated with some African players’ itinerary is explained by the ordeal of a minor, Ayorinde, a
Nigerian international who maneuvred through the borders of Africa to Europe. He shared his experience
when he set off from Lagos:

I took a taxi and some buses in between; I got to Niger and went to the information
center and apparently Air Algeria does not fly direct to Niger anymore. I decided that I
was going to continue this journey to Mali because I was told that from Mali I can fly
from there. So, I continued the journey and went through the borders and that was quite
a bad experience. You get to the borders you need to pay a bribe and I saw these border
cops with the face covered, with guns and you can’t even look at their faces or you’re
beaten, I mean I thought I was going to die but anyway I survived. That is what I went
through. […]. On the road, you get in between the borders and everything like that, you
don’t have a hotel, you go to where you want to buy food and then you buy it. In the

9
 evening you pay to rent a […]. When I was in Bamako, Mali, I met a Nigerian guy who
was on his way from Lagos, he was travelling to Dakar, and he was somebody having
money and we started to talk and then I didn’t know why but I just opened up to him,
this is my plan and he said you know what if you do that I mean there have been a lot
of people who had been doing this, and this connection is really blocked and you going
to get stuck. I had to go with him. [..]. I felt sick and had a serious fever for a few days.
When I was well enough, ….6

Upon reaching Tunisia, he decided to play in their league before continuing his journey to Europe.
Through a former Nigerian legend (Odegbami) he got connected to an agent who took him to Austria
for football trials with Sturm Graz FC. He recalled, “it was some deal that was going on because he (the
agent) took all the money and I didn’t get anything because I was not 18 years, so I was loaned out to a
lower division team.” Apart from the terrible moments he endured, nothing was given him after being
sent to a lower division team. The intrepid journey of the minor got him exploited which must be a great
concern for AU.

Effective Policies on African Football and Footballers’ Migration

African football is dominated by a paucity of financial resources to develop infrastructure and facilities.
This is because many African countries do not have an effective sport policy that seeks to promote
inclusiveness of all stakeholders. Ghana, with its international visibility in football, is among West
African countries that do not have sport policy for its citizens.7

Although, in their draft document towards improving African sport, the AU has a sport policy framework
on the financing of sport programs, there was nothing said about the labor-intensive benefits sport can
offer member states. It, instead, focuses on mandating governments to make the largest financial
contribution to sport, and to national and international sports organizations 8 (SportsEconAustria, 2012).
Yet, sport can lead to additional employment by contributing to national employment.

Ultimately, the proposed AU policy framework for the sustainable development of sport in Africa seeks
to provide a common policy designed to leverage sport and physical education for the progress and
development of member states and their peoples. But it is extremely difficult to put a value on the market
share of African sport in contemporary terms due to government and stakeholders’ lackadaisical attitude
toward the promotion of the sport in the continent. Sport, particularly football, provides socioeconomic
opportunities for African players who regularly send remittance and sporting capital to parents, families,
relatives, the community and society at large (Acheampong, 2017). This may not only have potentials
to improve the social and economic lives of people but also can support local and national development.

10
Football has growth-enhancing specialization advantages that can have strong positive impact on
Africa’s economy because of the passion and pride associated with the sport in the continent. The
countries can boost of raw talents who have passion and love for football (see Alegi, 2010). Football
products and services cut across sectors like tourism, insurance, legal consortium, management sciences
among others and with effective policies, countries can reap the benefits to positively impact on their
economies. Sport also provides an entrepreneurial opportunity for people to create businesses around it.
It can support other sectors’ development and growth based on sport demand and supply in a specific
country. Examples of this effect is found in the UK (professional sports and betting), in Austria (tourism)
and in Northern Europe (education) (SportsEconAustria, 2012). In essence, sport provides a strategic
business model for many sectors to leverage and to promote their products and services.

In a current historic Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed with FIFA and CAF, the AU seeks
collaboration using football as an effective tool to promote education, safety and security, good
governance, and anti-corruption (see Ghana Times, 2019).9 However, there is no policy direction for the
AU regions that will mandate and regulate their activities regarding the promotion of education, good
governance and anti-corruption as well as safety and security via the use of sport. The AU can adopt the
EU model on sport that has robust connections with the other sectors of their economy and its policy
implications on sport (SportsEconAustria, 2012). Appropriate coordination of these measures can affect
the quality of sport, improve domestic football, and add value to talent export abroad (Acheampong and
Bouhaouala, 2019).

Apart from the sport promoting the cultural identity of countries, it can foster convergence across AU
member states through the harmonization of sporting activities in the continent. Football has economic
potentials through the exchange of resources, intellectuals and capacity building for mutual benefits. In
the 1960s, Kwame Nkrumah realised the potential role of football and spearheaded the agenda of
unifying Africa through many Pan-African forums (Ohene Djan, 1964; Darby, 2005). To achieve his
concept, he established a football team called the Real Republicans to act as ambassadors for Pan-
Africanism and the new spirit of the African man (Darby, 2005).

Despite the numerous benefits of football, some African governments like the former Zimbabwe
President, Mugabe was reported to have deepened the crisis of the domestic game by crippling the
country’s economy and allowing his nephew to turn football into an extension of his uncle’s political
agenda (De Castella, 2003). This was quite unfortunate and cast a bad image on the country’s identity,
which justifies the need for effective policies on African sport in order to avert occurrences of such
abuse against the will of the populace. Clearly, it shows how poorly some African countries manage
sport as an extension of political leaders’ interests. For this and other reasons, it is recommended for

11
African governments to implement some of the propositions below, which have a propensity to improve
modern administration and management of sport.

To reflect Africa’s peculiar situation, the study suggests that AU partner with the EU’s Commission on
sports to draw from their examples by firming laws on financial investment in sports and to provide tasty
incentives for sponsors and investors. Alongside this, AU can create effective rules to have a discrete
market for sports channels and in identifying sport as the “key prime mover” that can make African sport
economy lucrative via pay-television operators. This, when properly done, can propel African sport to
compete with their counterparts in Europe because the continent has abundant talents and potentials that
can attract international investors to the sport. The AU should liaise with various stakeholders to
strengthen rules on sport structures, technical, infrastructure, athletes’ welfare, and a practical
framework that can regulate all sports to promote sanity and reduce exploitation. Strong punitive
measures should be in place to confront hooligans and sporting clubs that indulge in corrupt acts to mar
the beauty of the sport. Careful attention should be given to elite athletes via instituting a sustainable
remuneration system that rewards their talents and makes them comfortable at home. Also, rewarding
national heroes with monuments in their villages, towns, cities, stadiums, sport arena and sport museums
can create the ‘love and will’ for generations to emulate their selfless service to the country. Some of
the points enumerated above can be the “pull” factors that will keep top talents from emigrating.

Conclusions
Based on the importance of sport, particularly football, and with evidence from the EU policy on sport,
African football can accomplish much with robust development policy. This may contribute to securing
and protecting young talent from Africa, ensuring sport development, and promoting local interests in
the local domestic leagues. But it demands the collaborative efforts of governments, CAF, federations,
clubs, and partners to position sport as an effective driver of Africa’s growth.

Therefore, this is a reminder to African governments, CAF, and African stakeholders of sport that their
stance on sport policy must be given urgent attention. This study explored the urgency for effective
policies on sport in order to improve African football and, at the same time, manage the migration of
footballers to the Global North. Historically, African sport was used as a vector of propaganda for
gaining independence from their colonial control which is not much relevant today because football has
become a huge business cutting across many sectors of a country’s economy. Ultimately, African
governments, partners and relevant stakeholders in the sport have responsibilities to ensure the important
value of sport to national economies.

Apparently, there is a wider distinction between the socioeconomic development of sport in AU and EU,
as the EU policy on sport creates an enabling environment that attracts African players to their
championships and leagues. These policies are absent in Africa and it is time the AU develops a strategic
policy on sport to help improve social and economic opportunities for member states. This can support
job creation and local growth.

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The difference that exists between EU and AU, is that the European Union is a supranational political
community of states and they establish laws which apply to all member states, but this is not the case
with AU. However, much as West African players adopt various strategies to migrate abroad, this has
provided a starting point for the governments to have in-depth discussions on enacting a sport policy
that can refine footballers’ migration and assure social and economic growth.

Indeed, keeping African talents at home and improving football on the continent can create jobs and
help development in Africa. This can be done through having substantial levels of disposable income
for players, providing laws on advertising revenue for rights holders related to sports and regulations to
curb the high rates of copyright and trademark violations, including ambush marketing during sporting
events. When some of these measures are properly enacted into law and carefully implemented, it can
go a long way to minimize African talents being lured to the European football market.

The study was limited, however, by inability to secure monitoring and evaluation reports on the Policy
Framework for the Sustainable Development of Sport in Africa. The framework was scheduled to end
in 2018. Nonetheless, we do not expect much to be achieved, based on our research survey, because
some African countries have failed to enact an internal policy on sport. We acknowledge that an effective
policy on sport can play a role in improving African countries’ economy as well as inspire young people
to appropriate migration processes as they forge a professional career in football (Van der Meij, Darby,
and Katie, 2016).

Generally, the study recommends that West African governments’ policy on sport must deal firstly, with
the financial logic of football industry that offer opportunities to migrate by strengthening systems at the
domestic league level, secondly, minimizing illegal intermediaries and local managers who exploit
young people for financial gains and lastly, enact and reinforce laws on high school education as a pre-
requisite for becoming a professional footballer.

Notes
1. Former president of South Africa, Nelson Mandela (1994 – 1999).
2. For example, the effects of Bosman ruling in 1995 liberalized transfer rules of footballers and the
facilitation of sports competition law, which are subject to Community law that reflects an economic
activity.
3. In BIB/Open (Case IV/36.531 OJ 1999 L 312/1, 28).
4. Clubs creating an extension of their fan base in another country. They often tour those countries during
their pre-season training. It could be a new marketing strategy to increase its global fan base.
5. Interview on 7 December 2015.
6. Interview on 8 December 2015.
7. Ministry of Sport does not have a policy on sport that caters for both elite athletes and mass
participation for its citizens.
8. At the African Union Conference of Ministers of Sport held in Accra, in 2008.
9. This is an agreement reached with FIFA and CAF to use football as a tool to improve governance,
safety and security as well as fight against corruption on the continent.

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