African football now speaks English

The beginning of Issa Hayatou’s reign 29 years ago culminated in the first focus of African football to the Francophone end of the spectrum of Africa and for 29 years Africa had to play the tune that the Francophone-led board had to deliver. The secretariat in Egypt and all the communications that came out of […]

The beginning of Issa Hayatou’s reign 29 years ago culminated in the first focus of African football to the Francophone end of the spectrum of Africa and for 29 years Africa had to play the tune that the Francophone-led board had to deliver. The secretariat in Egypt and all the communications that came out of the Confederation of Africa Football (CAF) was driven in French and football in Africa was masterminded with a French agenda in mind. Even Issa Hayatou was first of all Parisian and then Cameroonian because he still resides in Paris and ran the affairs of African football out of Paris.

The sponsorship for the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) tournament driven by French companies such as Total and Orange Telecoms is a clear indication of that behavior. These marginalised Africa because the sponsorships were not open to the likes of MasterCard, Visa, the Americans, the British and other Anglophone and European driven interests.

Now African football is going to be led 90 per cent by native English speakers as well as the focus would now face a broader, more cosmopolitan, more world centric type sponsorship that Visa, MasterCard, Adidas and all other companies from other countries outside France can bid and actually have an opportunity to raise the value of this great sports we call our own in Africa.

Now with the victory of Ahmad Ahmad, a Malagasy, and the board been driven by people like Danny Jordaan, Amaju Pinnick, Musa Bility and a couple of others, we will see much more broader, wider spectrum influences from other Anglophone sponsors coming into African sports which can only brood well for Africa. The shut out of Super Sports of South Africa, which is Africa’s largest satellite TV service provider from the broadcasting rights of CAF tournaments by Hayatou has denied Africans the opportunity of enjoying richer viewership of league matches across the continent. Whereas their participation would have allowed for a much richer content of Africa football that can be beamed directly to the homes of close to a billion Africans living across the continent.

And with the partnership that Super Sports has with the Premier League and other major leagues in the world, their participation would also allow us penetration into those Euro markets that the Francophones were not ready or available to deliver over the last three decades. So the Anglophone positioned-CAF leadership is a good development for Africa because for the first time it is going to allow Africa be opened to a much broader spectrum of sponsorship, more companies can now play in the field of FIFA, ethics can now be held at a higher regard and the old esprit de corps which existed between most of the Francophone African speaking nations and France has been broken finally.

Now let’s see how this Anglophone driven board can uplift the growth of football in Africa. We have a new FIFA president, Mr. Gianni Infantino, who has run UEFA for a couple of years. The cooperation I expect from Infantino and Ahmed should be one that would project Africa and position the continent in a better light than has been seen in the last 29 odd years.

Michael Ataga Enahoro, Abuja.