Soccer in Africa works a special magic on the continent. It allows thousands of young people to dream, to project themselves, but also to be happy. Here are the best African clubs.
Soccer in Africa works a special magic on the continent. It allows thousands of young people to dream, to project themselves, but also to be happy. Here are the best African clubs.
For millions of people, sport is an important dimension of their lives, beyond entertainment, it gives them an identity and a sense of belonging. It gives them happiness and a rare feeling of euphoria (depending on the outcome, of course). It is also a source of catharsis in Africa, and creates an important distraction from the problems that ordinary people feel they cannot change.
Soccer is one of the few areas where an African child can find African heroes of international stature. Samuel Eto’o of Cameroon, Didier Drogba of the Ivory Coast, and Nwankwo Kanu of Nigeria – to name a few – are individuals who have given African youth a reason to aspire.
African soccer between immobility and extroversion
African footballers have been recruited by European clubs for a long time. Since the 1930s, many players from the Maghreb have been recruited by French clubs. For example, the “black pearl” Larbi Ben Barek arrived in Marseille on June 28, 1938, from the Moroccan club US de Casablanca, where French clubs were accustomed to discovering talent (Zatelli, Janin, Fontaine, Chicha, the Mahjoub brothers).
It was in the 1950s that the first players were recruited directly from French West African countries: “A handful around 1955, there were 43 in 1960. In the 1950s, Portuguese clubs also began to recruit players from their colonies in Africa: “At the beginning of the 1960s, the importation of Africans was almost at the same level as in France, with thirty players in the clubs of the first level of competition.
As in France, they are sometimes also employed in the national team, like the Mozambicans Eusebio and Mario Esteves Coluña.
The steady increase in the proportion of foreign-based players in national teams is part of a growing recruitment of African players by clubs around the world, particularly in Europe and the Persian Gulf. According to a statistical study conducted for the 2002-2003 season, there were 1,156 African professional footballers in European clubs, representing about 18% of the total number of players present who have migrated internationally.
Ranking of the best African clubs
African clubs are trying to keep their players despite the attraction of professionalism elsewhere and the financial gains that go with it. The ranking of the top African clubs shows a dominance of North Africa.
According to the Confederation of African Football (CAF), here is the list of the best clubs this season:
- Al-Ahly (Egypt): 1730 points
- Wydad Casablanca (Morocco): 1664 pts
- Esperance of Tunis (Tunisia): 1602 pts
- Raja Casablanca (Morocco): 1584 pts
- RS Berkane (Morocco): 1579 pts
- Mamelodi Sundowns (South Africa): 1557 pts
- TP Mazembe (DRC): 1548 pts
- Zamalek (Egypt): 1544 pts
- Pyramids (Egypt): 1528 pts
- Etoile du Sahel (Tunisia): 1512 pts
- Orlando Pirates (South Africa): 1510 pts
- Horoya AC (Guinea) 1503 pts
- Petro de Luanda (Angola) 1503 pts
- Simba SC (Tanzania): 1492 pts
- ES Setif (Algeria): 1490 pts
- CR Belouizdad (Algeria): 1487 pts
- JS Kabylie (Algeria): 1486 pts
- Kaizer Chiefs (South Africa): 1479 pts
- Al-Hilal (Sudan): 1478 pts
- Al-Masry (Egypt): 1470 pts
[…] many future stars come from Africa. How to structure all this again? It is the local actors, the local federations that must work better and more […]