Unwillingness to Play for Africa: Lack of Patriotism or a Justifiable Protest by African Football Players?

Like many other AFCONs in the past, this year’s tournament is being played without the participation of some African football stars. Though the absence of some of these stars is reportedly due to injuries, the genuineness of such claims of injury has remained a subject of debate among football lovers in Africa, as a good number of fans suspect that some of these players ‘fake’ injuries just to remain or return to their clubs in Europe. 

A few days ago, Sadiq Umar, a Nigerian striker, was under fire, after he was seen playing for his club (Real Sociedad of Spain) barely 4 days after he had left the Nigerian AFCON Squad due to a reported injury. Though the striker later came out to explain that it was the Super Eagles’ medical doctors who recommended his withdrawal from the squad based on their assessment of the severity of his injury, many still feel that he deliberately exaggerated his injury just to run back to his club in Spain.

Quite similar to the case of Umar Sadiq, Egyptian Skipper, Mohammed Salah, was scrutinized by fans following a report that he was considering flying back to England to receive medical treatment from his club’s medical team in Liverpool after suffering a hamstring injury while playing for the Pharaohs against the Black Stars of Ghana on the 18^th day of January 2024. Criticizing his decision to leave the Egyptian AFCON camp, Ahmed Hassan, a former Egyptian striker, questioned Salah’s commitment to his country’s national team, as according to Hassan, Salah could have arranged for his club’s doctors to join him in Ivory Coast and treat him there instead of opting to leave his national team in the middle of the tournament.

Regardless of whether these allegations of fake injuries are true or not, one thing is certain and that is the fact that most African players who play for European clubs feel reluctant when asked to leave their clubs to come home and play for their national teams in Africa. For instance, 19-year-old Ghanaian winger, Issahaku Fatawu, turned down a call to represent Ghana in the ongoing AFCON because of club commitments. The question is, why is this lacklustre interest in national football by some African players? Could it be a result of a lack of patriotism or an attitudinal protest against the manner we run our national football? 

For me, I see the attitude of some of these players as a protest against some anomalies with our national football administration. An example of such an anomaly is the corrupt nature of our national football officials. Most National Football Associations/Federations in Africa are guilty of misappropriating funds budgeted for the efficient administration of our national football. 

As a consequence of this ugly state of affairs, our players have suffered and have continued to suffer all manner of untold hardships and deprivations while representing us.  As we speak, many of the teams currently participating in the ongoing AFCON are owed several arrears of wages/allowances by the football federations. On many occasions, we have heard of African national teams boycotting training during international tournaments in protest and demand for the release of their wages/allowances which is usually being detained by the officials of their national football federation. 

READ ALSO: Forever Young: Age Cheating Holding Back African Football

Aside from the issue of non-payment of players’ wages/allowances, there is also the challenge of lack of provision of basic facilities. For example, Nigerian legendary midfielder, John Mikel Obi, once revealed that he was forced to use his fund to procure and provide food, accommodation, travelling and training facilities for himself and his teammates during the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio (Brazil) due to the failure of the officials of the Nigerian Football Federation to provide same for the team. 

Even in places where such basic amenities like travel and accommodation facilities are provided by these corrupt football administrators in Africa, the standards of such facilities have, sometimes, not met the minimum conditions required to guarantee the safety of the players. Only recently, the Gambia national team (The Scorpions) accused the officials of their national football federation of endangering their lives by arranging a faulty plane to fly them to Ivory Coast for the AFCON. Fullback, Saidy Janko, took to his Instagram page to share the near-death experience thus: 

“As soon as we entered the small plane that was hired to fly us, we noticed the immense heat that left us dripping in sweat. It was assured to us by the crew that the air condition would start once we were in the sky.”

“The inhumane heat mixed with the occurring lack of oxygen left many people with strong headaches and extreme dizziness. Furthermore, people started falling deeply asleep minutes after take-off.

“Whilst in the air, the situation got worse, leaving the pilot with no other option than initiating an emergency landing back in Banjul airport nine minutes after take-off.”

Also connected to the issue of corruption is the employment of unskilled or inexperienced dieticians and doctors for our national teams during international tournaments. Bright Osayi-Samuel, one of the players representing Nigeria in the ongoing AFCON, reportedly suffered food poisoning while in the Super Eagles camp. Similar to the issue of improper diet is the lack of trust in the medical facilities provided by our football administrators. A glaring evidence of this is the already cited scenario involving Mohammed Salah who is set to leave the Egyptian camp in Ivory Coast to return to his club for medical treatment (which shows his lack of trust in his country’s medical team). In Nigeria, Umar Sadiq, recently accused the medical team of incompetence, following a wrong diagnosis and assessment of his injury. 

Considering the above ugly state of affairs which has unfortunately become the reality of most national teams in Africa, it is difficult not to understand why some African players choose their European teams over their African national teams and why these players would continue to run back to their European clubs at any given opportunity. And so, until we squarely address some of these misgivings, we cannot fairly accuse any of our players of a lack of patriotism.