WEST AFRICAN FOOTBALL: THE MISSING TECHNICAL LINK IN PLAYER DEVELOPMENT

Football is arguably the most played, watched, and followed sport in the world, with millions of passionate stakeholders across every continent. Its global appeal lies not only in its ability to entertain but also in its simplicity, requiring nothing more than a ball and a few players to get a game started. In Africa, football holds a special place, commanding a cult-like following that permeates every corner of society and brings people together, irrespective of their background. But has this deep connection to the game always been the case? And more importantly, has the immense love for football in Africa translated into the technical development needed to produce world-class players?

Football was introduced into Africa in the late 19th century by European missionaries, the game grew in Africa through European missionaries and military. In the late 80’s the first football clubs were formed in Algeria, Egypt and South Africa, but it wasn’t up until 1957 that the Confederation of African Football (CAF) was founded, the first African Cup of Nations also took place that year.

Football in West Africa didn’t really develop until a surge in the mid to late-90’s that led to the formation of leagues across West African nations following their respective post-independence periods. The West African region has its own style of football inspired by its cultures and tradition, similar to how the English favour a more direct and high intensity game, the Spanish like possession based football, the South Americans like a more flair filled and technical game. The West African “football way”, just like other forms of art expressions from the region, be it music, paintings or film is all about bringing joy, expressiveness and energy. This directly impacts the way West African countries play their football, with these nations producing direct, high octane football games that often bypass the midfield be it due to necessity of lack of quality in those areas. Countries in the region have adopted this style of football for years, however, the need for technically secure players in the middle of the park has only grown with the constant evolution of the game, and in order for countries and teams from this region to keep up with their counterparts from around the world. In this post I will identify the reasons why West Africa can hardly boast of many light-tempered and technically secure footballers.

The West African Style

The West African style is a mix of various attributes such as physicality, athleticism, pace, power and flair as against technicality and excessive tactical influence. Nations from the region use various styles of play to maximize the aforementioned attributes. Styles such as wing play which utilizes pace, flair and athleticism more than the rest, or counter attacking football which utilize attributes such as physicality, athleticism, pace and power. The root of this issue mirrors the classic 'chicken or the egg' dilemma: Do West African teams adopt a more physical and athletic style of play because they lack technically skilled players, or is there a scarcity of technical players because the teams are conditioned to prioritize a physical approach? It's difficult to determine which came first, whether the playing style limits the development of technical skills, or if the absence of technical ability has shaped the way football is played in the region. Many factors affect the play style in this region, perhaps the most telling one is the prevalence of street football and the effects it has on the development of players.

 Majority of players in the region grew up playing street football due to the sheer lack of available youth training facilities of the fact that these children can’t afford to enroll in any academy of any sort, as such playing street football is the only way they can get acquainted with the sport, and this has had a knock on effects on their individual ability and their development. Due to the end to end nature of street football, young players end up developing skillsets relevant to 2 positions at best, attacking and defending. Street football requires certain attributes from players like flair, creativity, scoring and defending, and due to its end-to-end and high scoring nature there isn’t much need for control. This means that there is no structure to the plays which does not allow for environments where technically gifted players can develop their game, instead it favors attackers and defenders as that is all that is needed to play the game. There is no surprise that countries from this region have a good number of strikers and defenders playing in the top flights in Europe, with Nigeria especially in recent times having a plethora of attacking talents playing in the Europe big leagues and just a handful of midfielders in those leagues

Nigerian players by position in Europe's top 5 leagues by the start of the 22/23 season

Poor facilities and pitches also play a huge part in the underdevelopment of technical players, with majority of playing surfaces around the region being substandard, especially those at the lower levels with a few exceptions being the ones at privately owned properties. The shortage of good playing surfaces makes it difficult to play free flowing football, which in turn hampers the development of young players, forcing them to constantly play “push and run” football which ultimately translates into their national sides and hence is why we see that style of  football on our TV screens. There is also a serious lack of investment in the sporting sector by government and private owned businesses. This results in grass root football lacking proper funding, which means young players can’t develop under the correct tutelage and in the right environment. This reason is why most  of the popular footballing talents from the region moved abroad early in their careers and got the correct coaching in the right environment, players like Victor Osimehn, Didier Drogba, Samuel Eto just to name a few.

Also tactical deficiency at grassroot level plays a significant role in the underdevelopment of players technically and tactically, compared to European counterparts, the level of tactical detail at lower levels of the football pyramid is some distance apart. In West Africa most coaches at the grassroot levels don’t have great knowledge of the tactical intricacies of the game and as such are only able to develop players by teaching them the “basics” as well as helping them develop physically and mentally but not technically or tactically. Clubs in the region mostly focus on making profit and not so much on player development, with a lot of resources being put into their first teams in the hope of winning titles and much is not put into the development of young players at youth level, but recently clubs are starting to turn to youth development as an avenue to make profit by selling these players to foreign clubs which un-ironically helps the cause of player development at youth level.

In order to raise a new generation of footballers in the West African region that are technically secure, especially for players in the middle of the park, certain steps have to be taken from the lowest levels of football in the region. Investment in the adequate facilities and provision of the correct environments are very crucial to the development of young footballers, and this can help in producing and nurturing players with a variety of skillsets which can only be of benefit to the region and the nations at large. Coaches at the lower levels also have to be provided with the adequate level of education and tactical orientation to allow them to nurture players of different skillsets, profiles and help these young players develop correctly.

On a final note, I do not think the West African style of play is bad, if anything I believe it gives us an identity and differentiates us from the rest of the world. However, having players who are technically secure and who can look after the football will and can only enhance the quality of this style and allow room for coaches to have options during games. This also allows countries in this region to go toe to toe with other countries and teams from anywhere around the world and not be inferior in any facet of the game.