- 2 days ago
The World Cup is global, yet Africa faces barriers—from visas to access. With 10 teams qualified, can talent overcome the odds?
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:05as a football fan i'd love to watch the games live on tv but if i had the chance to
00:10go to the
00:10stadium and watch my favorite team play live oh boy i am taking the next flight i mean me too
00:17me too guys me too but who wouldn't want that the atmosphere the fans the excitement nothing beats
00:24being there in person we're gonna win we're not afraid of germany's team
00:36and while some players eventually end trials and contrast
00:43the case of omar attan critics argue that calf should have spoken out but this situation goes
00:50beyond sport it's about power so the last time africa hosted the world cup was in 2010. back
00:56then the tournament felt very close to home actually i was very young at the time but i
01:01still felt the vibe you can feel a bit of that same euphoria this year with an unprecedented number of
01:06african nations qualifying for the tournament indeed and this is the first time that 10 guys african
01:13teams are participating in qatar it was only five so this round is like double double excitement but
01:19there's also some real issues that we need to talk about in this show and we'll also hear from
01:23someone who played football across different countries for solutions on things that need to
01:29change welcome to the show my name is fatu elika muloshi and i am rachel nduati
01:38you know what before we dive in what's your favorite world cup song they've got a couple you know
01:43they've got a couple but my favorite one is for sure feel it got everything you need it
01:48now bring in like you mean it just like you mean it but there's also the one from the
01:55our congo actually and i think it's really going viral that one is hard for their part the better
01:59bango leopi to betta bango leopi to betta bango leopi to betta bango leopi to betta bango
02:07it's always nice you know to to see these moments to have these moments and i think the woke up
02:12song
02:12just brings everyone together it really really does and it was also interesting to see you know the
02:17performances and they and the way they were you know done yeah but also like the showing times
02:21were crazy i know a couple of people who had to set their alarms you know you won't believe it
02:27but
02:27you know we've been following we've been enjoying but the fans have also been enjoying so let's hear
02:33what they have to say of course the world cup the games are ongoing so you know the reactions are
02:38coming in as the teams play i'm very proud of the team it was a very good performance it was
02:44disappointing
02:44at the end because we could have scored but i think they will qualify for the next round we win
02:51the next
02:51match it's difficult for them to come today because um a lot of them didn't have the opportunities to
02:58come but those who are there we're gonna we're gonna support the team we're gonna win we're not
03:06afraid of germany's team they cannot beat us we have the same chances as them
03:15it was great our expectations for the upcoming match against saudi arabia are the best we believe
03:22that we will win they played well and i have faith we'll go through to the next stage with one
03:30more
03:30draw we can already make it considering that the uruguay national team is a strong side and we are just
03:39starting out at the world cup i think it was a good result i was happy though i wish we
03:48had won the
03:49game but if you couldn't win of course i prefer the draw with two points we still have hope of
03:53getting
03:53through to the good stage hey look at that look at that i mean for me i really like related
04:03because you
04:04know this world cup is very different especially for african teams because we previously had this
04:09underdog mentality but if you look at those games now it's like an equal playing field if you looked
04:14at uh the way court divorce played germany for example these were two teams that you know was
04:20entertaining super entertaining first of all and also at the same time they really showed up they did
04:25so well they really and i think countries like ghana launched from that because yes yeah they can
04:30you're even wearing the ghanaian oh yeah she's even wearing the ghanaian jayzi guys i love the
04:35winning she's fun girl in ghana for sure but you know that that is what happens they came with a
04:40clear goal and that is that they are going to be on the defensive yes from the first half right
04:45through
04:46the second half and they were gonna finish on a balanced scale i would have a finish on a balanced
04:50scale than have the other team win something unprecedented is happening you know we mentioned it in the
04:55beginning 10 teams this has never been seen before but i think a lot more can be done if only
05:00you
05:00know people can show more fans can be allowed to go as well and there's a reason and the reason
05:05we
05:05all know that's the elephant in the room which is the united states which has made it very difficult
05:09for some fans to actually access um these uh stadiums i was there of course in south africa
05:15uh to talk to some fans about that of course there's no football without the fans and a lot of
05:20the
05:21fans are struggling to go and watch the games live in the u.s how do you rate this why
05:26do you
05:26think when it comes to football refill where the fans the african fans are not getting the respect
05:31they deserve they are not getting the the respect they deserve because like i said they they are being
05:37undermined you can't play football without supporters not many many people can afford to go there from
05:42their own pockets so i think the government as well is supposed to inject some money into it so that
05:49people can go and support i mean you you watch the game against mexico you could you could barely see
05:55the bafana bafana jerseys around the stadium so we didn't have much support as well yeah yeah that's
06:01a bit tough especially when you know that your team has qualified but the fans can't even go and you
06:06clearly even said like what is a game without its fans obviously the situation in the united states
06:11does really make it very difficult you know for these fans to even like attend i always say that the
06:16african supporters have so much passion for this game and you cannot also call for a global game
06:22and have entire groups of supporters effectively locked out because of visa restrictions long waiting
06:27periods you know i think these things are all a little bit so discouraging yeah and i was in south
06:32africa for sure and i saw the atmosphere there and you can hear it from how they were speaking you
06:38know they would have loved to see more support being given to their team they would have loved to see
06:42more people going out there to show the support that they deserve and we have a case here where
06:47somebody was a fifa official and we've all seen this news where the somali referee omar atan
06:53you know was restricted from entering the u.s you've seen the headlines africa's top referee omar atan from
07:01somalia was denied entry into the united states despite being scheduled to officiate at this year's
07:06world cup fifa has had something to say but why is kaf the confederation of african football silent
07:13more than 24 hours after the incident fifa president jani infantino finally addressed the issue
07:19his throne was almost dismissive his message there's nothing to worry about in infantino's words these
07:26are not football problems they are reflections of the world we live in today and behind that statement
07:32lies a deeper reality fifa and by extension calf doesn't control borders they don't issue visas
07:39they don't decide who enters a country those powers rest entirely with the host nation in the case of
07:45omar atan it's the u.s so where does that leave calf critics argue that calf should have spoken out
07:51but this situation goes beyond sport it's about power and the truth is even a strongly worded statement
07:59from calf would likely have changed to very little if anything it could risk creating tensions with a
08:06world cup host a position football bodies would likely like to avoid ahead of a tournament of this
08:13magnitude crazy crazy i mean it was very devastating but we did see that the people in you know somalia
08:20really received this guy as a hero and they were like you know what just come back home you know
08:24just come back home they might refuse you here but you know just come back home and that was really
08:29interesting it makes sense because this person is the calf fifa referee of the year 2025 so you're
08:35talking about a continental winner you know best at what he does who is facing restrictions unrelated to
08:42his qualifications i feel like football really reflects the society that we live in today the
08:48society of systemic exclusion the society of discrimination in the sense that inequality but
08:53this is just a case of being restricted to enter for the uh officiator he probably would have everything
09:00catered for him if he goes in you know visas flights accommodation but what about the ordinary fan
09:06who might not be able to afford that so because you don't just enter the u.s and watch the
09:11games you have
09:11to pay we are having a situation of pricing of tickets they are way way beyond affordable to people
09:19from this continent i'm talking about us if i'm to go to welcome now my budget should be around what
09:2720 000 k of dollars i'm not saying dollars dollars yes so that alone it actually it acts me let
09:37me just
09:37come to you yes floyd is this now for the wealthy the connected where does that leave the ordinary
09:42fan who just wants to enjoy the game you know i'm smiling because we're supposed to be debating but we
09:47are agreeing instead you know look um who is it for and he spoke about the budget there was funny
09:55comment from the coach hugo bruce when he said we can't afford to have an argentinian the world champions
10:02playing against us because we can't afford 100 million rands which is plus minus 5 million euros
10:08it's shocking where are the fans there i don't even want to talk about them because now i'm talking
10:14about the experience on the pitch for the players what investment are you doing for the future he
10:18spoke about the under 23s we haven't even touched about the under 12s the under 30s the 50s the 17s
10:24the 80s it's shambolic that's the name that's the word shambolic it's a big word but it's it's the
10:30name you know fatul i was looking at um if you want to for example travel to drc uh from
10:36drc um to
10:37new york for example or new jersey to watch just one match guess how much you can pay plus flight
10:43tickets and all these costs four thousand us dollars look at that we're talking about price
10:50tickets as low as one thousand euros and that's even maybe like some of the least prices you will get
10:56it can go up to like 10 000 you know and we also heard this thing about the dynamic pricing
11:02where
11:03many people when many people go in to look for these tickets the prices search and i'm wondering
11:08like what is this you know what what exactly is this and i think for lower income countries it is
11:15a bit discriminatory because they clearly cannot afford afford it and we have you know currency exchange
11:20rates for example we have u.s visa fees like if you pay you want to go to the united
11:24states yeah it's
11:26185 us dollars and if you convert that for example into kenya shillings yeah or into you know ugandan
11:31shillings this is even more expensive so the question is who is this world cup meant for who
11:36is it meant for who's going there and someone would say i saw the comments where someone was you know
11:41commenting on some of our posts saying if they don't want you there just stay home and watch it
11:46but again i can get the i get the feeling that nothing beats going there and being there in
11:52person and experiencing that euphoria firsthand especially when you know you can do that absolutely
11:58and you know africa has really actually also come a major like long long way to secure major sports in
12:03in this tournament so let's look at this report yes fatu and rachel actually 10 african teams qualified
12:11for this year's world cup north african heavyweights morocco tunisia egypt and algeria were joined by west
12:18african nations ghana ivory coast and of course senegal and south africa and the democratic republic of
12:24congo also returned to the world cup while the portuguese speaking island of cape verd also joined
12:30the frame for fans it's been a difficult and expensive world cup to access high ticket prices
12:36visa issues and such big travel times between the different venues between the united states canada
12:43and mexico have been really criticized on the field it's already proving to be one of the most memorable
12:49world cups ever for africa because of all the nations represented and we've already seen how morocco
12:55gana ivory coast and the drc have impressed even tiny keb verd got in on the act and they became
13:01the
13:01tournament's darlings with impressive displays against star-studded spanish and uruguayan opposition
13:08nowadays though keb verd is more the exception than the norm because while skill and passion
13:13have never been in short supply now a lot of the african teams are playing with structure
13:18depth and experience that we haven't seen at previous tournaments
13:21in 2022 morocco became the first african nation to reach the semi-final of the world cup
13:27so will 2026 be the year that an african team goes one step further and wins it all
13:34well we're gonna have to wait and see back to you fatuo and rachel hey if they manage to do
13:39that if
13:40they bring this cup home and bring 50 million to their football associations who wouldn't want that
13:45well you know rachel i think it's doable is it it's really possible like you mentioned we've come a long
13:50way africa has come a long way to secure even these 10 spots it was less in the past yeah
13:56and
13:56this is a block that has a very high you know voting number in fifa i mean i think africa
14:02is the
14:03second calf is second to only uefa yes because we're talking about 56 member countries i mean that's
14:08because two are already associates so they can't vote that puts them to 54 a little bit below um uefa
14:15but we're talking about having that you know your football i try i'm just like what hey you really
14:21know football yeah for sure i mean kai and michael are listening they can correct this but i'm just
14:25trying to portray you know the number of uh presence they have at that uh level but still
14:33they're like disproportionately affected with absolutely you know slots yes but now with this high number of
14:39so i mean increased number of slots we see that africans can do it at the end of the day
14:44we know that
14:44well africa is proving its quality on the global stage so with a little bit more push i think they
14:50can do it because countries like nigeria this time around did not even really they're really feeling
14:54it at the moment i'm sure because their neighbors the other side you know they have this jollof beef
15:00but i used to think but apparently now they also have a football beef that i actually know you didn't
15:04know about the football well i always thought it was like the rice thing and now i'm finding it now
15:09it's
15:09even going beyond it's everything it's it's music it's football it's everything yeah so i'm just
15:15wondering like how these super eagles are doing let's have a look at this report
15:22do you think ghana can actually go far at this world cup which team ghana them
15:28wish of the cups the drinking water cup i feel like i wish of and i'm actually happy nigeria
15:32didn't make it to the world cup nigerians say ghana is overrated they are too individualistic in
15:38their team and too much a gold now we are here at the 26th world cup where is nigeria
15:45so now i want to ask nigeria what oughts more losing a football match or ghana reminding you about it
15:55i prefer to lose the football match they were not at the nation's cup they haven't really done
16:00they were just they qualified yes but i don't really see them doing much africa is still waiting
16:06for its first world cup winner so i am asking what is holding african football back it's corruption
16:13serious imagine it's a legalist thing that is doing well on beating for a long period of time you're
16:18telling them one day that they are not winners of the competition that some or some other team won
16:23it you know those things are you are creating division among the african teams africa in its
16:29sense it is the most talented you know continent as far as football is concerned we had to you know
16:34build the capacity of the players so you see the players with fine talent you know you try nurturing
16:39them then they get to a stage where they lack the support you know the signs and data to back
16:45whatever
16:45they are doing and then there is another challenge Thailand migration or as some fans might
16:53call it africa's football brain drain why are so many players with african roots choosing to
17:01represent european national teams instead of african countries africa as the players africa as the
17:10passion africa as the fans the question is when will africa finally turn all of that into a world cup
17:20winning
17:23team when fat when i mean you could hear from you know the super eagles um giving all yeah the
17:30super
17:30eagles fans and and at the same time like we have so many problems um as as a continent when
17:36it comes
17:36to football development it's actually not the same and we even discussed this earlier when we were
17:40talking about you know the logistical issues the fact that there's mismanagement even in the in the
17:45clubs and there's a lot of things that go wrong sometimes in african football i do think nigeria
17:51for example does not have a talent problem i mean they've got very um elite players there you're
17:57talking about the retired captain who was playing in the defense yeah he retired last year truce ikon
18:04as the highest calf higher scoring defender yeah and at the end of the day we can't deny africans influence
18:10in global football have you seen those of dual nationalities as well and just how they're
18:15excelling in international football 100 and you know some of them have african heritage for example
18:20we have kilian mbappe we have julius kaunde i hope i pronounced that correctly because it's a hard name
18:25but yeah for sure and we also have someone else who you're going to see his name is jonathan ta
18:35i grew up as a german in germany but through my father i picked up a bit of the culture
18:41i feel
18:42connected to the country a world cup is something special and i'm delighted to be at my first it means
18:53a great deal to me you can only reach your full potential by working hard and not relying on talent
19:03alone it was a positive experience it's a source of pride to also have support there
19:17this support i felt the love and affection from the people there
19:21i went to places where maybe not every tourist would visit and i felt that it gave them hope and
19:35made them feel seen that was really nice how he was with the kids over there it's so cute so
19:43cute
19:44but i mean we obviously know that you know um people with different nationalities like dual
19:49nationalities really make an impact also in european football and especially those ones also
19:53who have like african descent um for example kilian mbappe um and uh for example the french
19:59player former french player i don't know if it's former because i'm not that good at football
20:04but like paul pogba was also like you know um a french man of course but he had african um
20:10roots
20:11but guys how about you let's say you have two nationalities for example maybe you're an african
20:16and then you're also a european and you're given this chance to choose which nationality you actually
20:22want to play for yeah which one would you choose let us know in the comments because we like to
20:27take
20:27on this conversation as much as we want so let's see what work you have to put in when you
20:34want to get
20:34to that level of even making a choice yeah when most people think about football they think about
20:45the match day the goals the celebrations but before any player reaches that stage comes years of
20:53training i am at liberty academy in accra one of ghana's most successful football talent factories
21:01i'm gabriel akabi a player of danceman liberty sporting academy and this is my hustle
21:08so today in this episode of my also it will take me through on what it takes to become a
21:14football player
21:18you have to be fit you have to be mentally sound how often do you train like this oh i
21:22do train like
21:23this twice a day and like 10 times in a week wow yeah i've made plenty sacrifices but i'll say
21:29the one who is that helps me a lot that i've lived from my family and chasing my dreams about
21:35you
21:36you know i love my family very much yeah so that's the hardest sacrifice of me what age do you
21:41live on
21:43i left home around 10 10 years here what are some of the biggest challenges young footballers face in
21:50building their professional career when they go out there for trials the the kind of training programs
21:56and training schedule that they go through they don't have the same thing here and while some players
22:00eventually end trials and contrast others encounter a darker side of football force promises fake agents
22:09and costly scams after training it is finally time for a real test a mash because everything i have
22:19learned today means nothing if it can't be applied on the pitch
22:27football is is a highly physical game and if you really want to excel at it you have to put
22:32in the
22:32work you have to go to training you have to eat well you just have to be in the right
22:36space you know
22:37people think it's a lot of prestige yeah you know like you you see you know for example neymar or
22:43messi and you think whoa these people are here but it took a lot of you know hard work a
22:48lot of
22:48humble beginnings humble beginnings it takes a village and it also starts from the very
22:52grassroots level you know and and i think this is what we need to do also like as african people
22:57we
22:58need to start from the very beginning when these kids are even encouraging your child if the child
23:03says i want to play football in an african household say yeah i want to support this child to play
23:09football
23:09and then empower them at the end of the day we spoke to jordan of course he was also part
23:13of the street
23:14debate in south africa and we had him send to us what he thinks can work better not only for
23:18south
23:18africa but for african football five things i believe will help grow more talented young african
23:25players is number one the local clubs across africa need to stop fighting one another um internally in
23:32terms of youth and whatnot and should actually help build each other together um number two i feel like
23:37we should have more qualified coaches more coaches that are um they have their cap d license they can
23:43have c license they can have b license and so on because not only do they learn not only will
23:48they
23:49teach the boys their own knowledge but knowledge from fifa thirdly i believe that the investments that
23:55go into the clubs or they go into the local clubs for football specifically actually need to go in
24:01because it's a thing of money the government gives them it gives the football associations the money
24:06but then the high ups take it and it disappears and it doesn't actually go to the players or to
24:12the
24:13clubs and that also leads to my fourth point which is we need to build better infrastructures
24:19the clubs need to build we need to have more improved pictures and and whatnot and that only happens
24:26and that will only work if the investments actually come and last but not least i believe that
24:32us as african boys we have the flair we have the skill we just need to work on the mental
24:37side of
24:38football and the physical side of football we really need to nurture young talent in the continent
24:43and also try to prevent the leg drain thing where you know all the good players are playing elsewhere
24:47but they're not playing in our you know make it work for them yes and maybe next time kenya can
24:51actually also hey be part of it but guys sadly we have come to the we have come to the
24:57end of this
24:58show this show was really interesting i really learned a lot yeah and i enjoyed um but guys maybe
25:06the energy was from south africa as well because they love the game a lot i mean even though things
25:12are not in other in some places but um they have also their rugby so a lot is happening for
25:18sure for
25:18sure and we did enjoy um as well our time i brought some kilishi as well what did you bring
25:23from south
25:23africa kilishi but you didn't buy me earrings guys so so anyway um which world cup uh which team are
25:31you
25:32supporting for the world cup talk to us on our social media platforms we're really hoping that these
25:36guys bring this cup to our continent fingers crossed let's hope not to die thank you so much for
25:42watching see you another time bye
Comments