What Football Means to us “Africans”.

Just before the end of 2023, Netflix and FIFA premiered a 6 episode documentary of 2022 FIFA World cup matches.

Netflix released the ‘Captains of the world’, a six-episode series on December 30th of 2023 on the OTT streaming platform, in a collaborative effort between the streaming giant and FIFA+, offering an exclusive behind the scenes- look at the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

The release of “Captains of the World” featured insights from prominent figures in the soccer world, including Vincent Aboubakar(Cameroon), Andre Ayew (Ghana), Romain Saiss (Morocco), Kalidou Koulibaly(Senegal) and Youssef Msakni (Tunisia). Produced by Fulwell 73, the series served as a sequel to the 2022 production captains, which chronicled players’ journeys as they endeavored to qualify for the highly anticipated tournament in Qatar.

Soccer in the Diaspora‍

Many African players or players of African descent play in major leagues in Europe, Asia and the rest of the world. And someone can argue thatsoccer is one of the most crucial exports from the continent. From Cape Verdeto South Africa, to the Atlas mountains, every country has had a piece of cake in this lucrative industry as long as the talent is spotted.

Soccer is a way of bonding and making connections to other African immigrants for those that play casually in diaspora.

The game comes with a lot of emotions and personal reflections to a player. For instance the Senegalese captain ‘Kalidou Koulibaly’ born in France by African immigrant parents, he grew up identifying as French but all that changed in the 2002 World Cup group stages when France and Senegal faced off. The match ended 0-1 in favour of Senegal. As a French-Senegalese, this was a turning point for Kalidou Koulibaly. He ended up leading the ‘Lions of Teranga’ in the World cup series.

With various stories of soccer players, you will learn that the game has bridged different paths regarding ethnicity “Talent unite Us”. Didier Drogba, Alhaji Diouf, George Wear, Mohammed Salah, Sadio Mane, the Toure' brothers among others, these are icons who will always be venerated in the football world. They embroidered their names with golden ink in the capital of football ‘ Europe’, regardless of their humble beginnings from remote African cities.

The Atlas Lions

The 2022 FIFA world cup was more than a fairytale to the Moroccan Atlas Lions. The Lions went in the book of records to be the first African team to proceed to the Semi-Finals in the World cup.

After drawing in a nil-nil game with Croatia, the Atlas Lions went ahead and won Belgium in a 2-0 score, a 2-1 win over Canada. The Moroccan team proceeded to eliminate Spain in the Round of 16. The Pride of Africa eliminated Christiano Ronaldo’s Portugal too in the quarter-finals, to be the first African team to enter the Semis. The wins and the beautiful games and the great talents of the Moroccan team was not the only gift the Atlas Lions offered the continent, they offered Africans unity. Morocco made every African feel proud.

AFCON

The Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), also referred to as the Total Energies Africa Cup of Nations or CAN ‘Confederation of African Football. The highly anticipated tournament kicked off on January 13th in Ivory Coast. The matches are being held at six stadiums across five cities. The top two teams in each group and the four best ranked third-placed teams will be advancing to the round of 16. The bottom teams and the two worst ranked third placed teams in each group will be eliminated from the tournament.

Some African giants are already facing elimination, where so far the host ‘Ivory Coast’ and the Ghanaian Black stars have already been eliminated, not forgetting Riyad Mahrez’s Algerian side that has been the latest country to face elimination.

The emotions of despair and joy are all over social media platforms as the qualified and disqualified team fans show reaction;

‘Angry Algerian fans attempted to enter the hotel of the Algerian team, after they were eliminated from the AFCON’- via X tweets.

‘Ghana’s media crew refused to allow the Black Stars to leave the stadium, after their humiliation at the AFCON’- still via X.

At the same time, Mauritanian fans were seen celebrating after beating Algeria 1-0 to qualify for the round of 16 at the AFCON for the first time ever.

Samuel Eto’o broke down in tears, after Cameroon beat The Gambia 3-2 to qualify for the round of 16 at the AFCON.

The Cameroon Vs The Gambia was full of drama as a Gambia defender Muhammed Sanneh thought he was Maradona when he scored with his hand at stoppage time to make it 3-3. All praise to VAR technology the goal was disallowed. A draw would have eliminated both teams.

Stay tuned for more exciting sports updates on Zaminna.