Politics and Football in Africa

As the continent's favorite sport, football remains popular and widely played across the African continent. However, despite the power of the sport to bring people together in new ways, politicians and agencies have tried to leverage love of football to further their own agendas and personal goals. The scandals involving football mirror many of the political issues that are prevalent in many of the countries on the continent, ranging from corruption, patron-client relationships, state control of access to funds and foreign aid, nation building and political repression.

A majority of the ties between politics and football exist in the realm of institutions, specifically the domestic Football Associations (FAs) and the Confederation of African Football (CAF). Mirroring the pattern of a large number of FIFA corruption scandals surfacing in the last decade or so, a great deal of information about the suspicious inner dealings of the CAF has come to light in recent years, resulting in the defeat of its longstanding president, Issa Hayatou.

Many domestic states and their respective leagues have also seen politics work its way into the game, both in the sense of corruption and other scandals, but also as a source of nationalism and a generator of national unity in new states attempting to gain legitimacy.

CAF Controversy

Cup of Nations and Egyptian Court Conflict

The African Cup of Nations, being the premier tournament hosted by the CAF, the continental equivalent to Europe's UEFA European Championship, serves as a major showpiece for the CAF, but also a very lucrative source of TV and advertising revenue. Issa Hayatou, former president of the CAF, had negotiated a deal with French broadcasting company Lagardere for exclusive rights to broadcasting the tournament. Following the deal's conclusion, a new one was immediately completed, allegedly before engaging with other offers. An Egyptian firm, Presentation, attempted to win access to the rights, putting forth a bid exceeding Lagardere's by $200 million. Upon rejection of their offer, the firm proceeded to sue Hayatou and the CAF for "abuse of power" citing the corrupt nature of cliental distribution of access to the tournament to foreign companies and the fact that Hayatou was receiving concessions from Lagardere for ensuring that access. Hayatou, for his part, denies any wrongdoing and claims that all funds mentioned were simply "gifts" to the CAF. Presentation was further incensed by the fact that the deal with Lagardere was completed before even hearing out other offers. Rights have since been sold to Qatari firm BEIN Sport, which has ties to the al-Khalifa family, implicated, along with Hayatou, in the FIFA corruption scandals around the controversial 2022 World Cup award to Qatar.

Maintaining Power: Issa Hayatou

Issa Hayatou, now deposed as head of the CAF, maintained power in a way eerily reminiscent of many of the continent's more infamous autocrats. While built on a democratic foundation as an institution with an electoral process, over his time in power, the democratic underpinnings of the CAF were slowly eroded to suit Hayatou and his interests. Since coming to power, Hayatou promised a perscription of development and enlargement of the African game and its infrastructure in a manner similar to many African autocrat's promises of development and economic growth in their home countries. While delivering on many of those promises, including gaining more designated spots for African teams at the FIFA World Cup and overseeing the process of awarding the continent its first World Cup hosting bid at South African 2010, Hayatou's time in power is marred by the methods he used to maintain power and deliver these promises. While the CAF constitution had a strict term and age limit imposed to prevent an entrenched leader maintaining a grip on power, upon nearing the thresholds for those limits, Hayatou was able to push through legislation to nullify those limits and allow his continued service as head of the CAF agency. To further entrench his position and disqualify a good deal of his rivals and potential challengers, Hayatou also pushed through a new rule of procedure that stated that the president of the CAF could only be elected from among the current executive board committee, who happened to be handpicked by Hayatou himself.

Rise of a challenger

After 29 years in power, Hayatou was forced to step down in 2017 after a surprise election saw Ahmad Ahmad, then head of Madagascar's domestic FA emerge victorious. A member of Hayatou's executive committee, Ahmad was encouraged to run against Hayatou by factions of dissident FA heads in the CAF who had become emboldened by the downfall of Sepp Blatter at FIFA and the general need for a hard stance against corruption in football given the international mood following the revelation of the controversial Qatar 2022 dealings. Hayatou was intimiatly involved in the scandals at FIFA as a close associate of Blatter, and for a time was even elected acting head of the agency as a whole following Blatter's resignation This already shaky position was made worse as domestic FA heads had grown more uneasy about the allegations of corruption and the concerns over the 2019 African Cup of Nations award to Cameroon, which they sensed would be yet another pet project by Hayatou for his own prestige and wealth gain. The combination of factors created an environment where Ahmad, by all accounts a relative unknown among the executive committee, was given a chance to win leadership of the organization as a whole winning 34 out of 54 possible votes. The pattern of Hayatou's fall, similar to his hold on power, mirrored the story of the rise and fall of other authoritarian "strongmen" figures on the continent, in that amid a myriad scandals which made the leader's position seem untenable, other elites pounce on the opportunity to finally make a change in leadership by appointing a younger relative outsider to power.

Ahmad Ahmad- A New Era For the CAF?

Ahmad, 57 at the time of coming to office, was thrust with the mantle of being the fresh young face charged with realizing the potential of African football. Among his first actions upon taking office was to sign a memorandum condemning the corruption that had been a part of the CAF until that point and declaring a new age going forward. Ahmad, among other things, promised to work closer with agencies and companies on the continent, rather than the practice of outsourcing broadcasting to large European and Middle Eastern firms as Hayatou had done, and to develop domestic infrastructure in concert with African FAs. He believes that while a great deal of progress has been made in rooting out corruption, he remains "sure that in all sectors, in all countries, there is corruption."

He cited the poor academy system and lack of proper player training and development facilities, expertise or opportunities for youth players in Africa as a major source of focus for his new CAF. This situation has led to a situation where many African players are forced to take a risk and move to Europe to seek out recognition and playing opportunity, often having to take risky measures to get access to the ability to travel. Ahmad hopes that better domestic programs for developing players can help keep African talent on the continent, in turn helping to grow the African game's name recognition, reputation and competitiveness on the international level.

Domestic Political Controversy

Ghana

Kwesi Nyantakyi Scandal

Aside from the CAF level corruption, scandals in domestic FAs have come to light as part of the crackdown on corruption in African football. In Ghana, FA president Kwesi Nyantakyi was caught on film by an anonymous journalist with the undercover alias "Anas Aremeyaw Anas" accepting a bribe for $65,000 in June 2018. Anas worked for the journalism firm Tiger Eye PI, which has made it their mission to expose graft and corruption within Ghana. Nyantakyi, at the time, was also a high ranking FIFA member aside from his duties as president of the Ghanaian FA. He promptly was banned for life from football in all forms and tendered his resignation from his post, however, he maintains that he is innocent of any crime and that he was entrapped into taking the bribe. An appeal process is ongoing. Ghana announced that it would be investigating the FA thoroughly to root out any other hints of corruption and dissolved the organization immediately, hoping to reform it from the ground up following the scandal. CAF president Ahmad praised Ghana for its quick and decisive action and rallied the CAF and African FAs for the ongoing battle against corruption.

Related to the Nyantakyi scandal, one of the Tiger Eye PI journalists who assisted in the process of investigating Nyantakyi, Ahmed Hussein-Suale, was shot dead in Accra in January 2019. He was shot three times, twice in the chest and once in the neck, and, according to police reports died on the spot. Tiger Eye PI insists that the death was a murder meant to send a message to the organization for its actions exposing corrupt officials and points to the condemnation the agency received from Ghanaian MP Kennedy Agyapong, who cited Hussein-Suale as "dangerous", as evidence to suspect that many politicians could gain from the killing. Ghana's president, Nana Akufo-Addo, condemned the killing as "heinous" and promised swift action.

Algeria

Algerian League Scandal

BBC news, in September 2018, published a report, a result of a three year undercover investigation, detailing the depth and breadth of corruption within the Algerian game. Including conversations with match fixers, team members and FIFA and FA officials, the report dictates that the level of corruption is so apparent that a market of sorts has formed with established prices known among all actors for various officiating calls, game results and other potential match altering. Among other prices, 6,500 euros is the established price for a referee to award a penalty to one's favored side. While leaders in the FA have promised to root out the corrupt practices, faith among fans, players and broadcasters remains low for improved health of the integrity of the game. Aside from the politicians involved, wealthy fans often participate in the fracas as well, shifting results for their favorite teams. The rampant corruption has led to a deterioration of the quality of play in the Algerian league, with a corresponding impact in national team performance, as players are increasingly forced to look to Europe and Asia for playing opportunities with the domestic league caught in the scandal.

Egypt

Mubarak and the Arab Spring

Football has long been a major political battleground in Egypt since the early days of the Mubarak era. In the Mubarak era, football was used as a way of humanizing the regime and connecting with fans, as well as a driver of a collective national project, with the government investing heavily in the sport and even going so far as to directly own, through itself or ministers, 10 of the top flight clubs. Football became an important national pastime and major clubs, such as Al-Ahly, gained legions of loyal fans within the country. In an otherwise authoritarian country, football and its fandom became a way for people to connect and to organize around common interests and passions, and thus became a major vector for civil society organization. By the 2000s, fan songs, chants and posters began to carry political undertones, and charged dialogues were heard around the sport and its commentary. Broadcasting also began to take a political tone, as football media was given a wider leash than most in expressing opinions, critiques of the regime and public discourse to fans. In 2011, as the Arab Spring began to gain ground and momentum, crackdowns over football increased as the military attempted to maintain order and limit the political upheaval in the country. These episodes culminated in the Port Said Disaster of February 2012, where 72 were killed and hundreds injured in riots outside the stadium in Port Said, all of them visiting fans from Cairo based superclub Al-Ahly. The targeted nature of the casualties and the political nature of Al-Ahly supporters led to widespread accusations of military and police involvement in the incident. The military followed up the Port Said Disaster by enforcing a match ban for all fans in the country, effectively closing stadiums to live supporters, as well as closing down many of the broadcasting channels for football, or severely curtailing their voice. Stadiums have since been reopened for national team games, starting with the qualifier campaign for the 2018 Russia World Cup, but club teams still play in front of empty arenas.

Pyramids FC and Saudi entrance into the Egyptian market

The 2018 summer, aside from seeing Egypt compete for the world cup for the first time in decades, also saw a groundbreaking move to its domestic league. Turki Al-Sheikh, the Saudi President of Sport and close friend of crown prince Mohammad bin Salman, bought former mid tier club Alassiouty, and, following a move to Cairo and massive re branding campaign, renamed them Pyramids FC. This followed Al-Sheikh's intimate involvement in Al-Ahly's financial crisis, investing a sum of 13 million euros in the club to alleviate its debt crisis, but also quickly falling out of favor with the board and fans for his favortism of local Saudi clubs with his influence and connections.

Lacking in local support, Al Sheikh's new Pyramids club gained access to allowing fans in the stadium from the Egyptian government, and quickly proceeded to pay and bribe fans to attend games and express support for the new club. Aside from this, in the summer transfer window, Pyramids spent untold sums to put together an internationally competitive squad, importing 5 Brazilian players and buying out many of their rivals best young prospects to stock their roster. However, tensions between Al-Ahly and Al-Sheikh continued to boil and Al-Ahly fans organized abusive chants insulting Al-Sheikh and his family. The Saudi then decided to abandon the Pyramids FC project, but promised to see out the remainder of the contracts he had doled out, simply stating that all further investment by him and the Saudi government would cease in Egypt.

Football and Nationalism

Football in many African states has become a source of national pride and a unifying force for many of the relatively new states on the African continent. Professor of Anthropology Bea Vidacs, in her work on Cameroon, analyzed the way in which perceptions about identity have shifted over time and topic, specifically pertaining to football. The study, focusing on media and popular discourse around the sport, found that people's sense of national pride increased when talking about football, the national team, and legendary players such as Samuel Eto'o. People tended to refer to themselves as "Cameroonian" rather than their ethnic or linguistic designations, and the long standing division between the Francophone and Anglophone sections of the country seem to dissolve in media talks around the sport. Politicians have noticed this trend, and football serves for them, but also for the people, as a mechanism to consolidate the concept and idea of the state as a construct in the minds of people, specifically through the vectors of the national team and the success of players of the nationality in foreign leagues. More successful than the national project propaganda, in the author's view, in Cameroon, was the competition in the 1994 World Cup, where, for the first time, near universal self identification as Cameroonian became commonplace as people celebrated the run of their "Indomitable Lions". As a whole, football provides a mechanism for belonging and unification of spirit and identity in a way that traditional nationalism cannot, simply because it brings the population together to discuss and appreciate a common interest.

See also

• Association football and politics
• Politics and sports

References

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