Undoubtedly, football is Africa’s most popular sport, introduced into Africa over 100 years ago by the French, Portuguese and British colonists. Many African players started playing on flat grounds, with a goalpost made with four standing poles and a ball which is made of plastic. Such people have become members of one African team or the other.
The formation of football clubs started in African about 50 years ago, they have expanded and the best players in these clubs were selected to be members of their national team. Some popular African names that strikes conversations in football all over the world include; Michael Essien, Yaya Toure, Didier Drogba, Austin ‘Jay-Jay’ Okocha, and Obafemi Martins, most of which ended up in European clubs. The African football is of great importance to international football, and most times, only Europe has more national teams represented at the World Cups than African.
Major Competitions
Almost all members of CAF are also members of FIFA except for a few. African football lacks sponsorship in their domestic and cup competitions. As a result, the standards of African football is quite low if compared to the standards in other continents. There are two big competitions in the African football, CAF confederation cup and CAF champions league.
- CAF confederation cup; The is the continent’s annual championship. CS Sfaxien a Tunisian club, holds a 3-time winning record in the competition.
- CAF champions league; This is Africa’s, continental club championship. Egyptian club, Al Ahly, have won the trophy 8 times.
- Cup of Nations; This is the continent’s international championship and it is held after every two years. Only the 16 national teams who made it through the qualification stage take part in the competition. The super cup and the African Nations Championship (CHAN) are other competitions that the African teams have to compete in.