(Photo by Jamie McDonald/Getty Images)
As the African diaspora flourishes, the game is also advancing back home, at least monetarily. While the continent's domestic football will always be plagued by inadequate pitches, poor preparation, nutrition, salaries, administration and of course, corruption, sponsors are now pumping record amounts of money into the African Champions League.
A minimum of US$190,000 is received by teams making the eight team group phase, while 1 million USD is claimed by the winners, currently Egypt's record-breaking outfit Al Ahly.
They are spearheaded by Mohamed Aboutrika, a playmaker much coveted in Europe but who stays in Africa largely thanks to the sizeable salary the Cairo club can afford to give him. In fact, his performances have been at such a high standard that he was named the BBC's African Footballer of 2008 in a public poll, beating the likes of both Didier Drogba and Emmanuel Adebayor.
Of course, the only way Aboutreika, 30, is going to receive worldwide acclaim is if Egypt make it to the World Cup. The Pharaohs’ are the continent's most successful side, with six African Cup of Nations championships (including the last two), but chase only their third World Cup spot.
Yet Egypt's passionate football followers will also be hoping for something else this year, namely that FIFA's U20 World Cup passes smoothly as the land of the pyramids welcomes visitors in September. And to ensure that this really is the era for African football, FIFA has also awarded the U17 finals in October to Nigeria.
In December this year, the 2010 finals will seem just around the corner as the World Cup draw takes place in Cape Town, whose Green Point Stadium should grace any World Cup finals.
It just remains to be seen which five African nations will join Bafana Bafana in playing there and so add new memories to the continent's World Cup adventure as South Africa 2010 draws ever closer.
0 Comments
Loading more comments...
This comment and all replies have been deleted This comment has been deleted Undo delete