On This Day
For Africans, Soccer Offers Temporary Unity
by
findingDulcinea Staff
The African Cup of Nations kicked off on Jan. 20. in Ghana. The three-week soccer event sidelines political and social tensions on the continent.
30-Second Summary
As the biggest sports event in Africa, the African Nations Cup is as much about national pride as it is about athletic prowess.
Victory is a welcome opportunity for developing countries to celebrate their national identities, as evidenced by the jubilation that followed Mali’s defeat of Benin last week.
A BBC reader from Cameroon writes, “Football to a Cameroonian is like food to a hungry man. Cameroonians love football and they will do anything to watch a match of football. It is our source of pride.”
According to other soccer fans commenting on the BBC Web site, a shared passion for soccer unifies Africans.
Soccer has even been credited with quelling internal tensions in the Ivory Coast. When the country qualified for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, there was jubilation in both the government-controlled north and the rebel-held south.
Players on the Ivory Coast national team—who come from different regions of the country—became official spokesmen for peace in a country torn by civil conflict.
View AFP coverage
Victory is a welcome opportunity for developing countries to celebrate their national identities, as evidenced by the jubilation that followed Mali’s defeat of Benin last week.
A BBC reader from Cameroon writes, “Football to a Cameroonian is like food to a hungry man. Cameroonians love football and they will do anything to watch a match of football. It is our source of pride.”
According to other soccer fans commenting on the BBC Web site, a shared passion for soccer unifies Africans.
Soccer has even been credited with quelling internal tensions in the Ivory Coast. When the country qualified for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, there was jubilation in both the government-controlled north and the rebel-held south.
Players on the Ivory Coast national team—who come from different regions of the country—became official spokesmen for peace in a country torn by civil conflict.
View AFP coverage
Headline Links: Ivory Coast advances
After a 4-1 victory against Benin, Ivory Coast’s Elephants became the first team to qualify for the quarterfinals at the African Nations Cup. Didier Drogba, a star striker for the English team Chelsea, scored one goal and set up a second.
Source: International Herald Tribune
Opinion & Analysis: Soccer in Africa
Soccer is a big deal in Africa
On the BBC’s “Have Your Say,” Africans talk about what soccer means to them. “Football to a Cameroonian is like food to a hungry man. Cameroonians love football and they will do anything to watch a match of football. It is our source of pride,” writes Leila Kigha, from Cameroon. Maged Ali Hassan, an Egyptian, writes that soccer unites Africans. A Zambian sports journalist and manager of a children’s sports club, says about soccer, “It is important because it makes people forget their problems because it is full of happiness and laughter.”
Source: The BBC
“I'm no rookie when it comes to large displays of sports fandom, having been to Franklin Street after UNC beats Duke, and having been to downtown Montpellier when France won the Euro Cup. But this definitely trumped all of those in magnitude and passion,” writes blogger Kyle, an American student at Carleton College in Mali, referring to the celebrations in Mali after its team beat Benin, 1-0, last Monday.
Source: Kyle in Mali
Soccer’s power to unify
When the Ivory Coast’s national team qualified for the 2006 World Cup, jubilation broke out in both the government-controlled south and the rebel-held north. “But victory, per se, wasn't so much the point. You didn't have to look hard to see that there was much more at stake than just a soccer match. On this day, the Beautiful Game had reunited a country,” writes Vanity Fair. Since the victory, Ivory Coast soccer stars, such as Didier Drogba, have become symbols of national unity.
Source: Vanity Fair
“On the covers of sports magazines, [Didier] Drogba & Co. are featured as fearsome mercenaries, the black power of football. But when the doors close behind them and they take a break from training, they run up astronomical phone bills in fretful conversations with their mothers, brothers and sisters. On the pitch they're preoccupied, unfocused. To them, this is not a game. It's a peace mission,” writes Der Spiegel referring to Ivory Coast’s star soccer players Didier Drogba and Didier Zokora for whom winning a national match is tantamount to easing tensions at home. Soccer defeats sharpen internal tensions in the African nation, Der Spiegel writes.
Source: Der Spiegel
“In a continent where tribal divisions are ever-so present and take a huge part in country politics, the unifying factor of the beautiful game is something that can’t be underestimated,” writes Marco Pantanella in his soccer blog, referring to the effect of the 2008 African Cup of Nations on a conflict-torn continent. Whether national identities will be boosted by the unifying power of soccer has been the subject of many articles in the Ghanaian press, Pantanella writes.
Source: mCalcio.com
Reference: African Nations Cup coverage
BBC Sport provides live coverage, commentary and team guides to the African Cup of Nations.
Source: The BBC
FIFA’s new set of rules on soccer became effective on July 1, 2006, and can be found on the Association’s Web site.
Source: FIFA
Although the African Nations Cup is not on TV in the United States, American viewers can still see the games. This World Cup blog provides information on both free and pay-per-view ways to watch.
Source: Worldcupblog.org
The official Web site of this year’ tournament provides detailed information on the games as well as guides for people traveling to Ghana to watch the event.
Source: GhanaCan2008.com
Most Recent Beyond The Headlines
© 2012 Dulcinea Media, Inc.
