Killing football in Africa

“How do you want people to attend matches when their favourite players are not on the field,” asks Prince Ndoki Mukete, former assistant secretary general of the Cameroon Football Association, Fecafoot. The reasons for the absence of both supporters and the most famous players from the Cameroonian stadia is simple, adds Mukete. “It’s transfers. Our […]

“How do you want people to attend matches when their favourite players are not on the field,” asks Prince Ndoki Mukete, former assistant secretary general of the Cameroon Football Association, Fecafoot. The reasons for the absence of both supporters and the most famous players from the Cameroonian stadia is simple, adds Mukete. “It’s transfers. Our soccer officials quickly sign deals for player’s transfers as soon as a player shows promise. Transfers bring in money.”

The effect of the focus on transfers is that every good player knows that his value is to the outside world and not to the national soccer team. Samuel Etoo, one of the best known players from Cameroon and currently the most decorated African player, is only 29, but he has been in international soccer since he was 16, playing for top clubs like Real Madrid, Mallorca, Barcelona and Internazionale. Other top players in Cameroon have similar histories. They often don’t perform well on the rare occasions that they are playing nationally, since getting hurt or exhausted will diminish their international value. Mukete regrets the situation, which he says, has gotten out of hand recently. “We need to retain some value here. Soccer cannot develop when the stadia are empty.”

Soccer development does not seem high on the agenda of the present Fecafoot, which is a virtual top ten of real estate owners, sports goods manufacturers,’ agents, lawyers (who organize player transfers), transport and hotel contractors, and public relations agents. At any Fecafoot meeting in Cameroon, businessmen reportedly fight to get access to the rich spoils that have turned at least nine of the federations’ officials extremely wealthy.

Beefing up payment for Fecafoot services is a common scourge, with a prime example, cited in pending court papers against four Fecafoot officials in Cameroon, being a bill for an air-conditioned Prado for the Malawi team at the occasion of the African Cup of Nations in January 2010, when the actual vehicle offered to the Malawians was a dilapidated Toyota.

The court documents, which were obtained by FAIR, show that Fecafoot vice president, David Mayebi, receives regular payments from sports items manufacturer, Puma into his personal bank account without reflecting the amounts in Fecafoot records. Co-bidder for the same sponsorship, Adidas, that did not offer a bribe, lost out. Other Fecafoot documents seen by FAIR are player transfer contracts in which birth dates of players are altered to make them more easily marketable. Club origins of players are altered sometimes as well, so that the purported owners of the clubs can cash in on transfer fees. Some players sold off in this way have not made it in international soccer and live in poor conditions in countries such as Indonesia, China and Mexico.  

A recent state audit, likely prompted by revelations made by government delegate to Fecafoot, Jean Lambert Nang, has recommended the prosecution of the four Fecafoot officials charged in the court papers. However, observers do not expect these prosecutions to take off. Said one such observer: “They can’t do that, because everybody is in it.”  

Within all this, Cameroon’s players seem to be forgotten. When news reports said they had complained about ‘poor payment’ in the run up to the World Cup, soccer officials stated in response that the players were not ‘patriotic’ enough.  Cameroon was knocked out in the first round after losing all its three games against the Netherlands, Denmark and Japan

Being ‘unpatriotic’ was also one of the epithets directed at a member of the FAIR team in Cameroon, when he attempted to investigate the sources of CAF president, Issa Hayatou’s wealth. The reporter was threatened, beaten and has been in hiding since the incident earlier this year.

Partying in Ivory Coast

Ivory Coast – a country of extremely poor coffee and cocoa farmers- spends millions of US dollars on its soccer managers, with very little national performance in return. The coffee and cocoa industry  is one of the soccer federation FIF’s (Federation Ivoirienne de Football)’s principal sponsors, jostling for prime position with mobile telephone operator, Orange Cote d’Ivoire. Other major sponsors are the National Petroleum Operations Company (PETROCI) and the Petroleum Stocks management Company (GESTOCI).  Estimates of the amounts that are contributed by these major sponsors are not made public, but sources say they could be as high as US$40 million per year.

 Sadly, Ivory Coast has received very little national soccer performance in return. Though equipped with such great international starts as Didier Drogba, the team lacks cohesion and is mostly, like Cameroon, concerned about individual players’ performances outside their country. At the World Cup, Ivory Coast was knocked out in the first round.  

Soccer officials and local government allies in this country meanwhile make money out of fraudulent ticket sales and building contracts that seldom materialize into the actual buildings as intended. Abidjan stadium dates from 1945 and only has 35000 seats. This is so small that, when extra tickets for non-existent seats were fraudulently sold at the World Cup qualifying match against Malawi in 2009, a stampede killed 20 people and injured another 135.

The Ivorian Football Federation has reported this particular incident as “an unfortunate experience’ and refers to ‘funds allocated to the presidents of the clubs of Anyama, Korhogo and to the mayor of Bouaflé’ for the refurbishment of their stadia, which was apparently never carried out. A number of low-level officials were fined for the fraudulent ticket sales leading up to the Abidjan stampede, but local award-winning journalist André Silver Konan, who investigated the matter, has gone on record to say that only a small fry got punished and that ‘big fish’ were left alone.

Partying seemingly comes before soccer. On the eve of the quarter final match in the African Cup of Nations last January, soccer chairman, Jacques Anouma’s daughter, threw a birthday party for her national team boyfriend, and the Elephants were knocked out.. Anouma found nothing wrong with it saying: “It’s just a cake”.

Ervé Siaba, president of the Ivory Coast Association of Football Club presidents has gone on record to say that  ‘FIF money is wasted’ because the FIF is “full of people who know nothing about football and who make decisions according to their own whims, to the detriment of the laws that govern our football”. Numerous telephone calls, emails and questionnaires addressed to those in charge of the FIF only resulted in promises for interviews. One of the contributors to this investigation went to a few such promised meetings only to be stood up. He concluded that “they do not want to be disturbed”.

Nevertheless, Anouma has withstood calls for his resignation. “They can call me to resign as much as they want”, he has commented, meaning that it was all water off a duck’s back to him. Strengthening his power is the fact that he is also the financial director of the presidency in Ivory Coast.

Administrators fly around, players stay stuck

In Kenya, in May this year, soccer officials went on an all-expenses paid trip to the United States, leaving the national soccer team –the Harambee Stars- without means to go play a match in neighbouring Uganda. The Kenyan government had to cough out $10 000 in taxpayers money to get the team to the African Nations Cup. “This morning, we have been forced to spend KSh750 000 to take the boys to Kampala,” Gordon Oluoch, the Commissioner of Sports, told FAIR. “The federation guys are in the US.”

Similarly, in Nigeria, Sports Minister, Ibrahim Issa Bio, had to use taxpayer’s money during the World Cup to bail out the Super Eagles, Nigeria’s national team, after the Nigeria Football Federation had booked them into a cheap hotel in South Africa, costing only $100 a night when FIFA was paying the federation $400 for each player per night. Nigeria was knocked out in the first round.

When former England coach, Glen Hoddle, was asked to coach the national team and offered a contract worth $1 million, he was told by NFF officials that it would be announced as $1.5 million, with the profit to be divided amicably between the individuals involved. He rejected this and went public, scuttling the deal.

The Nigerian Football Federation is certainly not battling for money. Other than the 2010 World Cup FIFA grant of US $ 9 million, the NFF receives an annual sponsorship from TV company, Globalcom to the tune of about US $7 million. Where the money is spent is a mystery. The Nigerian football clubs that are supposed to benefit, say they only get 10 percent of it.  Nobody seems to know where the rest goes. Additional television rights for the league are worth $5 million but the clubs all say that they haven’t seen any of this money either.

The South African Premier Soccer League is the seventh best funded league in the world. It is supported by ABSA, one of the leading banks, SAB Miller, internationally the fourth largest brewer, the satellite Supersport channel and a number of other banks and corporates whose donations together amount to about US $300 million over a five year period from 2007.

From all this, some individuals get very rich indeed. Premier Soccer League boss, Irvin Khoza, who also owns the soccer team, Orlando Pirates, is reported to have made R25 million ($3.3 million) from soccer in 2008 and R30 million ($4 million) last year. He could make more this year as soccer officials were expected to be paid a bonus by FIFA for organising the World Cup. According to a South African–based investigation by the Sowetan newspaper, the Local Organising Committee, of which Khoza is chairman, recently voted to allocate 10 % of World Cup profits (expected to amount to US $ 130 million) to its own members and 5 % (US $ 65 million) to SAFA officials. Irvin Khoza would reportedly be pocketing from both sources.

Despite these massive amounts of money, South Africa was knocked out in the first round of the World Cup becoming the first host nation to do so. South African soccer is not doing well because players generally lack international exposure. It is the very opposite of a situation in Cameroon where players get sold off at early ages, almost never to return.

The ideal situation would be to have some players playing internationally, and coming back home to impart their experiences on the national team. At the end, neither a country that sells off all their players, nor the country that neglects international exposure totally, will do well. Ghana did well because it had the right mix.

In the run up to and during this World Cup, local government officials and their friends in local government councils in South Africa were involved in business deals concerning the building of stadiums and other infrastructure rather than in enabling South Africans to become involved in the game. In 2009, Nelspruit municipal officer, Jimmy Mohlala, who blew the whistle on corruption in the awarding of the Mbombela World Cup Stadium in that town, was murdered.

Donations for young players going haywire

Maybe the worst aspect of the mismanagement of African soccer is the misuse of funds meant for the development of new soccer talents. It is the dream of many a young African child to learn how to play soccer really well: you can see them all over the continent, playing on dusty streets with plastic balls made from discarded maize meal packages, plastics and paper, shouting ‘Maradona! Maradona!’  But specific donations meant for community soccer development often don’t reach these target groups.

In Ivory Coast, an annual donation by the national oil refinery company SIR for the development of local clubs, worth US $2 million, was suspended by SIR in 2007 when it found out that none of the clubs had received any of the money. The head of Ivory Coast’s Football Federation, FIF, Jacques Anouma, argued that ‘that money was not supposed to go to the clubs anyway’, without explaining where it, then, went.

In Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe’s nephew, Leo Mugabe, was sacked from the Zimbabwean Football Association (ZIFA) after misappropriating US $ 61 000 for youth soccer development, but that did not clear the rot. A consignment of soccer kits meant for young players in communities was last seen in the garage of  ZIFA chief executive officer, Henrietta Rushwaya, in Harare in late 2007 and could not be recuperated because the garage was reported ‘burnt down’ shortly after FIFA tried to locate the kits.

Moneys for local soccer development went haywire also in Nigeria and Kenya.

FIFA acts against soccer corruption investigations, every time

FIFA had stepped in every time when African countries try to address corruption in their soccer associations to stop those efforts. In 2004, it suspended Kenya for ‘interference’ after its government fired the Kenyan Football Federation for misuse of funds. KFF executives left office with a debt of US $320 000, which they could not explain, even though the federation had a surplus of US $ 200 000 when they came into office.

FIFA has, since 2004, also suspended Chad, Ethiopia and Madagascar for ‘government interference’.

In 2008, FIFA threatened to suspend the national Zambian team when that country’s government announced it would investigate the transfer of Emmanuel Mayuka to an Israeli club. The transfer had been facilitated by Football Association of Zambia head, Kalusha Bwalya. There was no investigation after the threat.

FIFA has managed to make even Robert Mugabe, president of Zimbabwe, look good –be it only momentarily. He did not stand in the way in 2003, when his nephew, Leo Mugabe, was sacked from the Zimbabwean Football Federation ZIFA for misappropriating US$ 61 000. In 2006, Mugabe issued instructions to investigate corrupt ZIFA soccer bosses but FIFA threatened the country with expulsion. The investigation came to a quick halt.

The corrupt bosses have since bounced back. Current ZIFA boss, Cuthbert Dube, simply paid his way into office. Three ZIFA councillors told FAIR that they were paid US$2000 (more than the average Zimbabwe citizen’s annual income) each by Dube to ensure that they voted for him.

Sending in the heavyweights

Nigeria is the latest victim of a FIFA suspension threat. President Goodluck Jonathan announced suspension of Nigerian participation in all FIFA and CAF organized competitions for two years after the national Super Eagles’ poor showing at the just ended World Cup. Jonathan also announced an audit on the N900 million that had been allocated to the team.  “We went to the World Cup and found all sorts of problems and we felt we should sit back and look inward,” Nigeria’s Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi, who headed a Presidential Task Force on South Africa 2010 FIFA World Cup, explained the decision.

But it was not to be.  FIFA gave Nigeria three days to withdraw its decision or face a ban from the soccer governing body. According to FIFA communications director, Nicolas Maingot, the FIFA ban would not only cover the national team but club matches in African competitions, referees as well as the cash that flows from FIFA to national associations. Apparently this included the $8 million that was due to Nigeria for participating in the first round of the World Cup.

Ironically, the man who was sent by FIFA to present the full picture and weight of the FIFA threat to President Jonathan was Amos Adamu, the sacked Director-General of the National Sports Commission (NSC), whose cronies run the Nigeria Football Federation. Adamu is generally seen as the force behind the opaque multi-million Globalcom and TV rights deals (mentioned above), from which the Nigerian football clubs received only crumbs. Adamu is an executive committee member of both FIFA and the Confederation of African Football (CAF).

Ghana’s secret

Ghana’s success –up to the quarter finals- in the World Cup may seem surprising in the light of the above, but the Ghanaian Football Association, one of the oldest on the continent, is reportedly more mature in its outlook and also better organized than its counterparts in other countries. Ghana spends its money on a much-praised youth development programme which has seen its junior teams winning international tournaments at World Cup level.

Ghana’s success has, however, been marred by allegations –dating back to 1997- of match fixing in cahoots with Asian gamblers. Soccer author Declan Hill, in his book: The Fix- Soccer and Organized Crime’,  says the gambling rings’ contact person was Abukari Damba, who had been a national player and coach of the Ghana Under 17- team, and that he had access to players at any level. One of the Ghana’s Star players Stephen Apiah, who played in the just ended World Cup, has admitted to receiving payment, and distributing the money to other players, at the Olympics in Greece in 2004. Hill asserts that he was personally told the score of the Brazil-Ghana game in 2006 two days before the match was played.

Nevertheless, engaging in a bit of fixing seems to have done Ghana’s general soccer development no harm, as its results and its youth development programme show. It is perhaps a ‘higher’ level of corruption, comparable to soccer corruption in the rest of the world, where the corruption, though bad, does not seriously impact on a country’s development, either in sports or in general.

African soccer corruption more damaging than soccer corruption internationally.

That corruption in developing countries is more damaging than in developed countries has been argued by Richard Hall, former editor of the prestigious London-based Africa Analysis. “What makes corruption different -and much less affordable- in Africa is that its countries only have infant economies,” Hall who lived and worked in Zambia for years before returning to England, said. “Like human infants, they are more vulnerable to infection, more likely to sicken and die. In America, Japan or Britain the exponents of big-time corruption are (if caught) gently side-lined. In Africa, economies lack the depth, strength and stability to shrug off corruption.”

As a way forward, African soccer Fundi Joe Kadenge, who has been involved in Kenyan football since the late 1950s as a player, team manager and coach, says countries should simply defy FIFA. “We should take control of the federations until clean people are elected to take over.  FIFA can suspend us if they so wish,” Kadenge argues.

‘The Fix’s’ author, Declan Hill, says one solution could be for FIFA to pay players directly. One of the possible major reasons for African players’ bad performance has been disgruntlement among the players that they were not being paid promised bonuses.  “The fact is that some of the athletes competing at the world’s biggest sporting event still do not know how much money they will be paid or even if they will be paid at all,” said Hill.

Lastly, the sports media in Africa also seem to have some cleaning up to do. One of the FAIR investigative team members was present when fellow journalists witnessed an event of soccer bribery. Instead of running to their newsrooms to report the crime, the journalists stayed and demanded some payments for themselves, too.

Courtesy: Forum for African Investigative Reporters (FAIR)