Football in Africa

Best results of African men's national teams at the FIFA World Cup

Football is the most popular sport in Africa. Indeed, football is probably the most popular sport in every African country, although rugby and cricket are also very popular in South Africa.^[1]

History

Football was first introduced to Africa in the late 19th century by Europeans.^[2] The game was first played in the continent in 1862; historian Peter Alegi writes that it "spread very quickly through the mission schools, through the military forces and through the railways."^[2] Teams were being established in South Africa before 1900, and in Algeria during a similar time period. Cape Coast Excelsior is the oldest African football club that remains in existence; it began play in Ghana in 1903. By the 1930s, football was being played in Central Africa.^[2]

As Africa is a highly superstitous continent many African teams depend on witch doctors for success.^{[3][4][5][6][7][8][9]}

Children are often explotited by agents also.^{[10][11][12][13]}

Competitions

The Confederation of African Football (CAF) was founded in 1957, and the first Africa Cup of Nations was held the same year, with a three-team field.^[14] As the sport grew football associations grew across to the continent. African national teams compete in the Africa Cup of Nations and also in the African Nations Championship for local teams.^[14][15]

The first African nation to participate in the FIFA World Cup was Egypt in 1934.^[16] That remained the only World Cup appearance by a team from the continent until 1966, when a team from CAF was originally scheduled to compete in a playoff with teams from Asia and Oceania for one tournament berth. In response, CAF nations boycotted World Cup qualifying, and FIFA granted CAF one guaranteed berth in the 1970 tournament.^[17] Starting in 1970, African nations at the FIFA World Cup started to compete regularly.^{[17][18][19][20][21][22]} Zaire was Africa's representative at the 1974 edition of the competition. The team lost all three of its games.^[21] In 1977, Pelé stated his belief that a team from the continent would be crowned World Cup champions by the end of the 20th century, which proved incorrect.^[23] Cameroon advanced to the quarterfinals of the 1990 World Cup, becoming the first African national team to do so. Senegal and Ghana matched the feat, in 2002 and 2010 respectively.^[16] By 2010 South Africa become the first African nation to host the World Cup.^[24][25]

Women's football

Football is played in a limited capacity by women due to a lack of funding.^[26] The masculine nature of football has proved a deterrent to women's involvement in football in Africa.^[27][28]

References