Why Are There No Black Managers In The Top Leagues?

WARMING:I am not pulling any punches here. If you have issues with race or lingo stop reading this. We live in very hypocritical times of our lives with unrealistic disorders to pacify each other, stroking our egos to justify the shortcomings caused by the evils we indulge in. There are words regarded too strong, rights enjoyed by the sinful, behaviour acceptable regardless of the opinions of others, norms cool only to the perpetrator, dress codes with minimum material or shifted waistlines and outrageous lifestyles that caused fire to rain in biblical times being promoted as rights. Parents can now be genderless.  

The world's top players are black, and not just because of the exploits of Didier Drogba, Samuel Eto'o or Michael Essien. There has been a good number of blacks in the past, from Pele to Eusebio. This is not to say there has not been outstanding white counterparts as you may as well know of Hungarian Puskas of the Pele era. A few of the other whites of those days were over-rated though.

Within living memory range, John Barnes, Stan Colymore, Les Ferdinand, Ian Wright, Paul Parker, George Weah, Roger Milla, Abedi Pele, Frank Rikjaard and Rudd Gullit were some of the best blacks in the business. They played during the era of Michel Platini, Diego Maradona, Eric Cantona, Bryan Robson, David Ginola and Peter Schmichael. Without looking at the numbers, the scale of balance is even.

This will obviously be supported by the fact that from 1974 when Zaire was beaten 9-0 at a FIFA World Cup to a point Cameroon were cheated from a semi-final berth against England in Italia '90 and freshly, Ghana being Suarezed off the semi-final in the South Africa 2010 FIFA World Cup, Africa and blacks have been more acceptable much less than their ability but as a way of pulling off cheap political mileage by FIFA, clubs and individuals.

Pele is famous for having predicted an African team winning the FIFA World Cup before the turn of the century. Pele, the World's best player ever and a true legend was basing his naive opinions on merit alone. He looked at football as a game and at black players as masters of football. While that fact is proven, the reality is that Africans are actually the slaves and not masters when it comes to the beautiful game. Africa will never be allowed to win the World Cup unless there is a huge point to score by the organisors. There will not be a FIFA World Player Of The Year. Theirry Henry should have been one at one point. FIFA can ask the captains to recite or read the 'FIFA Fair Play code against racism', but frankly, how many times have we seen that happen followed by monkey chants the following week when black players take to the pitch? These are actually a result of the superiority of the black players.

You will remember how France dominated the game in the 1998 -2000 era. That was a window that showed the world what Africa can do, given the right resources and fair chance. I am not saying France is Africa, but we will not be naive enough and bury our heads in the sand and pretend we don't know the African element in that squad. The whites did not like it and from there on, there was deliberate efforts to throw spanner in the works up to the 2010 FIFA World Cup. France totally collapsed and the white world was happy.

It will be hard to ask for fair playing ground and harder because if you ask, who will have to grant it. As blacks, we may need a few things to take our levels up. It is easier and simpler in athletics, where if you are Jessie Owens, you can sprint across a finish line and then Hitler can decide not to shake your hand, but all people saw the sprint. If you are Mohammed Ali, it may be harder as you will need a referee who may not be black, then you will be motivated to plummet your opponent to a pulp. Carl Lewis and Usain Bolt and the William sisters all had to grind their results in contrasting fashions. In individual sports, there is not much suppression and manipulation of results is not easy.

Actually, my point is, with the all the black talent in football, how come there is not even one black coach or Manager of note in top flight football in the UK, Serie A, La Liga or Bundesliga? Paul Ince has been trying to match his white counterparts, namely Steve Bruce, Mark Hughes, Roy Keane, Gareth Southgate and Stuart Pierce, just to name a few, without breaking into the Premiership. We can talk of Rikjaard and Gullit from La Liga and the Premiership respectively, but look at the ratio. Is the race issue so bad that professional football players will not hearken to black mentors, and is it the reason why African football associations are so colonised they will not trust their own black coaches to coaches national teams, even if they are paid less and produce better results?

In an ordinary day, I would feel this article is offensive to white or non black people, and this is exactly the mentality that has made many people and nations failures. In the quest to be polite, they lost the plot and sank. Frankly, black people are their own first huddle, especially Africans. The 'white is cool' mentality has not taken us anywhere but down. I guess if someone screws you and do so that you keep smiling, there is no reason to ask them to stop. Worse with us, we screw ourselves, and hard.

Why Are There No Black Managers In The Top Leagues?

WARMING:I am not pulling any punches here. If you have issues with race or lingo stop reading this. We live in very hypocritical times of our lives with unrealistic disorders to pacify each other, stroking our egos to justify the shortcomings caused by the evils we indulge in. There are words regarded too strong, rights enjoyed by the sinful, behaviour acceptable regardless of the opinions of others, norms cool only to the perpetrator, dress codes with minimum material or shifted waistlines and outrageous lifestyles that caused fire to rain in biblical times being promoted as rights. Parents can now be genderless.  

The world's top players are black, and not just because of the exploits of Didier Drogba, Samuel Eto'o or Michael Essien. There has been a good number of blacks in the past, from Pele to Eusebio. This is not to say there has not been outstanding white counterparts as you may as well know of Hungarian Puskas of the Pele era. A few of the other whites of those days were over-rated though.

Within living memory range, John Barnes, Stan Colymore, Les Ferdinand, Ian Wright, Paul Parker, George Weah, Roger Milla, Abedi Pele, Frank Rikjaard and Rudd Gullit were some of the best blacks in the business. They played during the era of Michel Platini, Diego Maradona, Eric Cantona, Bryan Robson, David Ginola and Peter Schmichael. Without looking at the numbers, the scale of balance is even.

This will obviously be supported by the fact that from 1974 when Zaire was beaten 9-0 at a FIFA World Cup to a point Cameroon were cheated from a semi-final berth against England in Italia '90 and freshly, Ghana being Suarezed off the semi-final in the South Africa 2010 FIFA World Cup, Africa and blacks have been more acceptable much less than their ability but as a way of pulling off cheap political mileage by FIFA, clubs and individuals.

Pele is famous for having predicted an African team winning the FIFA World Cup before the turn of the century. Pele, the World's best player ever and a true legend was basing his naive opinions on merit alone. He looked at football as a game and at black players as masters of football. While that fact is proven, the reality is that Africans are actually the slaves and not masters when it comes to the beautiful game. Africa will never be allowed to win the World Cup unless there is a huge point to score by the organisors. There will not be a FIFA World Player Of The Year. Theirry Henry should have been one at one point. FIFA can ask the captains to recite or read the 'FIFA Fair Play code against racism', but frankly, how many times have we seen that happen followed by monkey chants the following week when black players take to the pitch? These are actually a result of the superiority of the black players.

You will remember how France dominated the game in the 1998 -2000 era. That was a window that showed the world what Africa can do, given the right resources and fair chance. I am not saying France is Africa, but we will not be naive enough and bury our heads in the sand and pretend we don't know the African element in that squad. The whites did not like it and from there on, there was deliberate efforts to throw spanner in the works up to the 2010 FIFA World Cup. France totally collapsed and the white world was happy.

It will be hard to ask for fair playing ground and harder because if you ask, who will have to grant it. As blacks, we may need a few things to take our levels up. It is easier and simpler in athletics, where if you are Jessie Owens, you can sprint across a finish line and then Hitler can decide not to shake your hand, but all people saw the sprint. If you are Mohammed Ali, it may be harder as you will need a referee who may not be black, then you will be motivated to plummet your opponent to a pulp. Carl Lewis and Usain Bolt and the William sisters all had to grind their results in contrasting fashions. In individual sports, there is not much suppression and manipulation of results is not easy.

Actually, my point is, with the all the black talent in football, how come there is not even one black coach or Manager of note in top flight football in the UK, Serie A, La Liga or Bundesliga? Paul Ince has been trying to match his white counterparts, namely Steve Bruce, Mark Hughes, Roy Keane, Gareth Southgate and Stuart Pierce, just to name a few, without breaking into the Premiership. We can talk of Rikjaard and Gullit from La Liga and the Premiership respectively, but look at the ratio. Is the race issue so bad that professional football players will not hearken to black mentors, and is it the reason why African football associations are so colonised they will not trust their own black coaches to coaches national teams, even if they are paid less and produce better results?

In an ordinary day, I would feel this article is offensive to white or non black people, and this is exactly the mentality that has made many people and nations failures. In the quest to be polite, they lost the plot and sank. Frankly, black people are their own first huddle, especially Africans. The 'white is cool' mentality has not taken us anywhere but down. I guess if someone screws you and do so that you keep smiling, there is no reason to ask them to stop. Worse with us, we screw ourselves, and hard.

Why Are There No Black Managers In The Top Leagues?

WARMING:I am not pulling any punches here. If you have issues with race or lingo stop reading this. We live in very hypocritical times of our lives with unrealistic disorders to pacify each other, stroking our egos to justify the shortcomings caused by the evils we indulge in. There are words regarded too strong, rights enjoyed by the sinful, behaviour acceptable regardless of the opinions of others, norms cool only to the perpetrator, dress codes with minimum material or shifted waistlines and outrageous lifestyles that caused fire to rain in biblical times being promoted as rights. Parents can now be genderless.  

The world's top players are black, and not just because of the exploits of Didier Drogba, Samuel Eto'o or Michael Essien. There has been a good number of blacks in the past, from Pele to Eusebio. This is not to say there has not been outstanding white counterparts as you may as well know of Hungarian Puskas of the Pele era. A few of the other whites of those days were over-rated though.

Within living memory range, John Barnes, Stan Colymore, Les Ferdinand, Ian Wright, Paul Parker, George Weah, Roger Milla, Abedi Pele, Frank Rikjaard and Rudd Gullit were some of the best blacks in the business. They played during the era of Michel Platini, Diego Maradona, Eric Cantona, Bryan Robson, David Ginola and Peter Schmichael. Without looking at the numbers, the scale of balance is even.

This will obviously be supported by the fact that from 1974 when Zaire was beaten 9-0 at a FIFA World Cup to a point Cameroon were cheated from a semi-final berth against England in Italia '90 and freshly, Ghana being Suarezed off the semi-final in the South Africa 2010 FIFA World Cup, Africa and blacks have been more acceptable much less than their ability but as a way of pulling off cheap political mileage by FIFA, clubs and individuals.

Pele is famous for having predicted an African team winning the FIFA World Cup before the turn of the century. Pele, the World's best player ever and a true legend was basing his naive opinions on merit alone. He looked at football as a game and at black players as masters of football. While that fact is proven, the reality is that Africans are actually the slaves and not masters when it comes to the beautiful game. Africa will never be allowed to win the World Cup unless there is a huge point to score by the organisors. There will not be a FIFA World Player Of The Year. Theirry Henry should have been one at one point. FIFA can ask the captains to recite or read the 'FIFA Fair Play code against racism', but frankly, how many times have we seen that happen followed by monkey chants the following week when black players take to the pitch? These are actually a result of the superiority of the black players.

You will remember how France dominated the game in the 1998 -2000 era. That was a window that showed the world what Africa can do, given the right resources and fair chance. I am not saying France is Africa, but we will not be naive enough and bury our heads in the sand and pretend we don't know the African element in that squad. The whites did not like it and from there on, there was deliberate efforts to throw spanner in the works up to the 2010 FIFA World Cup. France totally collapsed and the white world was happy.

It will be hard to ask for fair playing ground and harder because if you ask, who will have to grant it. As blacks, we may need a few things to take our levels up. It is easier and simpler in athletics, where if you are Jessie Owens, you can sprint across a finish line and then Hitler can decide not to shake your hand, but all people saw the sprint. If you are Mohammed Ali, it may be harder as you will need a referee who may not be black, then you will be motivated to plummet your opponent to a pulp. Carl Lewis and Usain Bolt and the William sisters all had to grind their results in contrasting fashions. In individual sports, there is not much suppression and manipulation of results is not easy.

Actually, my point is, with the all the black talent in football, how come there is not even one black coach or Manager of note in top flight football in the UK, Serie A, La Liga or Bundesliga? Paul Ince has been trying to match his white counterparts, namely Steve Bruce, Mark Hughes, Roy Keane, Gareth Southgate and Stuart Pierce, just to name a few, without breaking into the Premiership. We can talk of Rikjaard and Gullit from La Liga and the Premiership respectively, but look at the ratio. Is the race issue so bad that professional football players will not hearken to black mentors, and is it the reason why African football associations are so colonised they will not trust their own black coaches to coaches national teams, even if they are paid less and produce better results?

In an ordinary day, I would feel this article is offensive to white or non black people, and this is exactly the mentality that has made many people and nations failures. In the quest to be polite, they lost the plot and sank. Frankly, black people are their own first huddle, especially Africans. The 'white is cool' mentality has not taken us anywhere but down. I guess if someone screws you and do so that you keep smiling, there is no reason to ask them to stop. Worse with us, we screw ourselves, and hard.

Why Are There No Black Managers In The Top Leagues?

WARMING:I am not pulling any punches here. If you have issues with race or lingo stop reading this. We live in very hypocritical times of our lives with unrealistic disorders to pacify each other, stroking our egos to justify the shortcomings caused by the evils we indulge in. There are words regarded too strong, rights enjoyed by the sinful, behaviour acceptable regardless of the opinions of others, norms cool only to the perpetrator, dress codes with minimum material or shifted waistlines and outrageous lifestyles that caused fire to rain in biblical times being promoted as rights. Parents can now be genderless.  

The world's top players are black, and not just because of the exploits of Didier Drogba, Samuel Eto'o or Michael Essien. There has been a good number of blacks in the past, from Pele to Eusebio. This is not to say there has not been outstanding white counterparts as you may as well know of Hungarian Puskas of the Pele era. A few of the other whites of those days were over-rated though.

Within living memory range, John Barnes, Stan Colymore, Les Ferdinand, Ian Wright, Paul Parker, George Weah, Roger Milla, Abedi Pele, Frank Rikjaard and Rudd Gullit were some of the best blacks in the business. They played during the era of Michel Platini, Diego Maradona, Eric Cantona, Bryan Robson, David Ginola and Peter Schmichael. Without looking at the numbers, the scale of balance is even.

This will obviously be supported by the fact that from 1974 when Zaire was beaten 9-0 at a FIFA World Cup to a point Cameroon were cheated from a semi-final berth against England in Italia '90 and freshly, Ghana being Suarezed off the semi-final in the South Africa 2010 FIFA World Cup, Africa and blacks have been more acceptable much less than their ability but as a way of pulling off cheap political mileage by FIFA, clubs and individuals.

Pele is famous for having predicted an African team winning the FIFA World Cup before the turn of the century. Pele, the World's best player ever and a true legend was basing his naive opinions on merit alone. He looked at football as a game and at black players as masters of football. While that fact is proven, the reality is that Africans are actually the slaves and not masters when it comes to the beautiful game. Africa will never be allowed to win the World Cup unless there is a huge point to score by the organisors. There will not be a FIFA World Player Of The Year. Theirry Henry should have been one at one point. FIFA can ask the captains to recite or read the 'FIFA Fair Play code against racism', but frankly, how many times have we seen that happen followed by monkey chants the following week when black players take to the pitch? These are actually a result of the superiority of the black players.

You will remember how France dominated the game in the 1998 -2000 era. That was a window that showed the world what Africa can do, given the right resources and fair chance. I am not saying France is Africa, but we will not be naive enough and bury our heads in the sand and pretend we don't know the African element in that squad. The whites did not like it and from there on, there was deliberate efforts to throw spanner in the works up to the 2010 FIFA World Cup. France totally collapsed and the white world was happy.

It will be hard to ask for fair playing ground and harder because if you ask, who will have to grant it. As blacks, we may need a few things to take our levels up. It is easier and simpler in athletics, where if you are Jessie Owens, you can sprint across a finish line and then Hitler can decide not to shake your hand, but all people saw the sprint. If you are Mohammed Ali, it may be harder as you will need a referee who may not be black, then you will be motivated to plummet your opponent to a pulp. Carl Lewis and Usain Bolt and the William sisters all had to grind their results in contrasting fashions. In individual sports, there is not much suppression and manipulation of results is not easy.

Actually, my point is, with the all the black talent in football, how come there is not even one black coach or Manager of note in top flight football in the UK, Serie A, La Liga or Bundesliga? Paul Ince has been trying to match his white counterparts, namely Steve Bruce, Mark Hughes, Roy Keane, Gareth Southgate and Stuart Pierce, just to name a few, without breaking into the Premiership. We can talk of Rikjaard and Gullit from La Liga and the Premiership respectively, but look at the ratio. Is the race issue so bad that professional football players will not hearken to black mentors, and is it the reason why African football associations are so colonised they will not trust their own black coaches to coaches national teams, even if they are paid less and produce better results?

In an ordinary day, I would feel this article is offensive to white or non black people, and this is exactly the mentality that has made many people and nations failures. In the quest to be polite, they lost the plot and sank. Frankly, black people are their own first huddle, especially Africans. The 'white is cool' mentality has not taken us anywhere but down. I guess if someone screws you and do so that you keep smiling, there is no reason to ask them to stop. Worse with us, we screw ourselves, and hard.

We Need Another FIFA World Cup. Who's With Me?

The 2010 FIFA World Cup came amid verve and expectation of African teams. It felt so obvious that there would be more than a single African team in the quarter final and at least one in the semis. Actually, it never felt an illusion to imagine one in the final. The world practically came and stole the Cup from Africa.

The story, as known to all by now, is how disappointing the teams were. Ghana received a lot of praise and complements as a well polished African side. People forget that it was the same feeling when Cameroon almost reached the finals in Italy. Significantly, it was 20 years ago. A further 12 years from then, Senegal were a revelation in South Korea/Japan in 2002.

In between then and now, and indeed even before that, African junior teams were beating the blue-lights out of the global football heavyweights. This became part of the reason the continent became pregnant with expectation. The 'so near yet so far' feeling was to abide with us for much longer as it is here now.

The obvious fact is that of African players shaping and deciding the destiny of many leagues and championships the world over. Then the corruption and mismanagement by national associations and confederations is an easy and accessible scapegoat. The biggest undoing of the African game is the African professional players themselves. They came to South Africa just for a holiday. These guys will not break a leg for their nations. They have careers to protect, which is great if they pay your rent.

The African Confederation of Football came up with a noble continental concept of home-based players. The overseas professionals are disservicing the continent's football. This involves only non-professional home-based players, and these have a lot of points to prove. They want overseas contracts. They play matches as their interviews; bas if their lives depend on it.

This is what FIFA must emulate. They must inaugurate the version of local-based players for the FIFA World Cup, if they are as serious about the development of African football as they would like us to believe. Maybe it may not work for other continents, but for Africa and Asia, it will. It is easy to think that the national teams have an option of fielding local based players on their own, but FIFA requires associations to field their 'best players' for their (FIFA ) marketing purposes. It is necessary, therefore, to make a deliberate effort to have Africans represented by players who will break, not only a leg, but both, in an endeavour to entertain us and please a potential employers overseas.

A long shot, but this is one of the few ways FIFA can practically help the continent that has given the world so much talent and FIFA so much money. This must be incepted together with the exclusicive use of local coaches who must be regulated to be nationals of the teams they coach, or at least from the continent. This will be a true measure of the world footballing trends and growth, as opposed to the wrong reflections we always see after the big tournaments.

This 'FIFA World Cup 2' would take place 2 years after the full version, the same year as the Euro Cup, and replace one term of the Africa Cup of Nations which currently takes place every 2 years. In this case, we would have AFCON every 4 years, the year of the FIFA World Cup proper.

We Need Another FIFA World Cup. Who's With Me?

The 2010 FIFA World Cup came amid verve and expectation of African teams. It felt so obvious that there would be more than a single African team in the quarter final and at least one in the semis. Actually, it never felt an illusion to imagine one in the final. The world practically came and stole the Cup from Africa.

The story, as known to all by now, is how disappointing the teams were. Ghana received a lot of praise and complements as a well polished African side. People forget that it was the same feeling when Cameroon almost reached the finals in Italy. Significantly, it was 20 years ago. A further 12 years from then, Senegal were a revelation in South Korea/Japan in 2002.

In between then and now, and indeed even before that, African junior teams were beating the blue-lights out of the global football heavyweights. This became part of the reason the continent became pregnant with expectation. The 'so near yet so far' feeling was to abide with us for much longer as it is here now.

The obvious fact is that of African players shaping and deciding the destiny of many leagues and championships the world over. Then the corruption and mismanagement by national associations and confederations is an easy and accessible scapegoat. The biggest undoing of the African game is the African professional players themselves. They came to South Africa just for a holiday. These guys will not break a leg for their nations. They have careers to protect, which is great if they pay your rent.

The African Confederation of Football came up with a noble continental concept of home-based players. The overseas professionals are disservicing the continent's football. This involves only non-professional home-based players, and these have a lot of points to prove. They want overseas contracts. They play matches as their interviews; bas if their lives depend on it.

This is what FIFA must emulate. They must inaugurate the version of local-based players for the FIFA World Cup, if they are as serious about the development of African football as they would like us to believe. Maybe it may not work for other continents, but for Africa and Asia, it will. It is easy to think that the national teams have an option of fielding local based players on their own, but FIFA requires associations to field their 'best players' for their (FIFA ) marketing purposes. It is necessary, therefore, to make a deliberate effort to have Africans represented by players who will break, not only a leg, but both, in an endeavour to entertain us and please a potential employers overseas.

A long shot, but this is one of the few ways FIFA can practically help the continent that has given the world so much talent and FIFA so much money. This must be incepted together with the exclusicive use of local coaches who must be regulated to be nationals of the teams they coach, or at least from the continent. This will be a true measure of the world footballing trends and growth, as opposed to the wrong reflections we always see after the big tournaments.

This 'FIFA World Cup 2' would take place 2 years after the full version, the same year as the Euro Cup, and replace one term of the Africa Cup of Nations which currently takes place every 2 years. In this case, we would have AFCON every 4 years, the year of the FIFA World Cup proper.

We Need Another FIFA World Cup. Who's With Me?

The 2010 FIFA World Cup came amid verve and expectation of African teams. It felt so obvious that there would be more than a single African team in the quarter final and at least one in the semis. Actually, it never felt an illusion to imagine one in the final. The world practically came and stole the Cup from Africa.

The story, as known to all by now, is how disappointing the teams were. Ghana received a lot of praise and complements as a well polished African side. People forget that it was the same feeling when Cameroon almost reached the finals in Italy. Significantly, it was 20 years ago. A further 12 years from then, Senegal were a revelation in South Korea/Japan in 2002.

In between then and now, and indeed even before that, African junior teams were beating the blue-lights out of the global football heavyweights. This became part of the reason the continent became pregnant with expectation. The 'so near yet so far' feeling was to abide with us for much longer as it is here now.

The obvious fact is that of African players shaping and deciding the destiny of many leagues and championships the world over. Then the corruption and mismanagement by national associations and confederations is an easy and accessible scapegoat. The biggest undoing of the African game is the African professional players themselves. They came to South Africa just for a holiday. These guys will not break a leg for their nations. They have careers to protect, which is great if they pay your rent.

The African Confederation of Football came up with a noble continental concept of home-based players. The overseas professionals are disservicing the continent's football. This involves only non-professional home-based players, and these have a lot of points to prove. They want overseas contracts. They play matches as their interviews; bas if their lives depend on it.

This is what FIFA must emulate. They must inaugurate the version of local-based players for the FIFA World Cup, if they are as serious about the development of African football as they would like us to believe. Maybe it may not work for other continents, but for Africa and Asia, it will. It is easy to think that the national teams have an option of fielding local based players on their own, but FIFA requires associations to field their 'best players' for their (FIFA ) marketing purposes. It is necessary, therefore, to make a deliberate effort to have Africans represented by players who will break, not only a leg, but both, in an endeavour to entertain us and please a potential employers overseas.

A long shot, but this is one of the few ways FIFA can practically help the continent that has given the world so much talent and FIFA so much money. This must be incepted together with the exclusicive use of local coaches who must be regulated to be nationals of the teams they coach, or at least from the continent. This will be a true measure of the world footballing trends and growth, as opposed to the wrong reflections we always see after the big tournaments.

This 'FIFA World Cup 2' would take place 2 years after the full version, the same year as the Euro Cup, and replace one term of the Africa Cup of Nations which currently takes place every 2 years. In this case, we would have AFCON every 4 years, the year of the FIFA World Cup proper.

We Need Another FIFA World Cup. Who's With Me?

The 2010 FIFA World Cup came amid verve and expectation of African teams. It felt so obvious that there would be more than a single African team in the quarter final and at least one in the semis. Actually, it never felt an illusion to imagine one in the final. The world practically came and stole the Cup from Africa.

The story, as known to all by now, is how disappointing the teams were. Ghana received a lot of praise and complements as a well polished African side. People forget that it was the same feeling when Cameroon almost reached the finals in Italy. Significantly, it was 20 years ago. A further 12 years from then, Senegal were a revelation in South Korea/Japan in 2002.

In between then and now, and indeed even before that, African junior teams were beating the blue-lights out of the global football heavyweights. This became part of the reason the continent became pregnant with expectation. The 'so near yet so far' feeling was to abide with us for much longer as it is here now.

The obvious fact is that of African players shaping and deciding the destiny of many leagues and championships the world over. Then the corruption and mismanagement by national associations and confederations is an easy and accessible scapegoat. The biggest undoing of the African game is the African professional players themselves. They came to South Africa just for a holiday. These guys will not break a leg for their nations. They have careers to protect, which is great if they pay your rent.

The African Confederation of Football came up with a noble continental concept of home-based players. The overseas professionals are disservicing the continent's football. This involves only non-professional home-based players, and these have a lot of points to prove. They want overseas contracts. They play matches as their interviews; bas if their lives depend on it.

This is what FIFA must emulate. They must inaugurate the version of local-based players for the FIFA World Cup, if they are as serious about the development of African football as they would like us to believe. Maybe it may not work for other continents, but for Africa and Asia, it will. It is easy to think that the national teams have an option of fielding local based players on their own, but FIFA requires associations to field their 'best players' for their (FIFA ) marketing purposes. It is necessary, therefore, to make a deliberate effort to have Africans represented by players who will break, not only a leg, but both, in an endeavour to entertain us and please a potential employers overseas.

A long shot, but this is one of the few ways FIFA can practically help the continent that has given the world so much talent and FIFA so much money. This must be incepted together with the exclusicive use of local coaches who must be regulated to be nationals of the teams they coach, or at least from the continent. This will be a true measure of the world footballing trends and growth, as opposed to the wrong reflections we always see after the big tournaments.

This 'FIFA World Cup 2' would take place 2 years after the full version, the same year as the Euro Cup, and replace one term of the Africa Cup of Nations which currently takes place every 2 years. In this case, we would have AFCON every 4 years, the year of the FIFA World Cup proper.

Remembering - Gift Mpho Leremi

Gift Mpho Leremi will be remembered by many as the best midfielder Bafana Bafana never really had. The young right footed linkman blossomed in the Orlando Pirates ranks during the heydays of Lebohang Mokoena , and Joseph Dukuduku Makhanya. No team had joy when the trio were in town.

Leremi had great work-rate and scored long-range thunderous goals. He became the Bucaneers' king pin at a young age and when on song he was just a joy to watch. He was on the verge of cementing a Bafana Bafana position that was thought to be a moulded South African representative in the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

So much was his influence that he made a debut at night in a Mandela Cup match at Ellis Park and showed no nerves at all despite the big occasion. Leremi was so much into his game that Mamelodi Sundowns paid a good sum to pry him off the Ghosts camp.

He moved to Sundowns where his form was emerging to maturity and was involved in the African safari matches with the Brazilians. He played in the Africa Champions' League and was enjoying his stay there.

As a player, he was a balanced dribbler with great vision and passed the ball well together with his fantastic scoring of essential goals. He was self motivated and knew where he wanted to be in his football and he enjoyed his football.

The world was denied to see Leremi's ingenuity at the world stage when the young player lost his life in a car accident. It was such a dark moment for football and his family, of course.

Remembering - Gift Mpho Leremi

Gift Mpho Leremi will be remembered by many as the best midfielder Bafana Bafana never really had. The young right footed linkman blossomed in the Orlando Pirates ranks during the heydays of Lebohang Mokoena , and Joseph Dukuduku Makhanya. No team had joy when the trio were in town.

Leremi had great work-rate and scored long-range thunderous goals. He became the Bucaneers' king pin at a young age and when on song he was just a joy to watch. He was on the verge of cementing a Bafana Bafana position that was thought to be a moulded South African representative in the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

So much was his influence that he made a debut at night in a Mandela Cup match at Ellis Park and showed no nerves at all despite the big occasion. Leremi was so much into his game that Mamelodi Sundowns paid a good sum to pry him off the Ghosts camp.

He moved to Sundowns where his form was emerging to maturity and was involved in the African safari matches with the Brazilians. He played in the Africa Champions' League and was enjoying his stay there.

As a player, he was a balanced dribbler with great vision and passed the ball well together with his fantastic scoring of essential goals. He was self motivated and knew where he wanted to be in his football and he enjoyed his football.

The world was denied to see Leremi's ingenuity at the world stage when the young player lost his life in a car accident. It was such a dark moment for football and his family, of course.

Remembering - Gift Mpho Leremi

Gift Mpho Leremi will be remembered by many as the best midfielder Bafana Bafana never really had. The young right footed linkman blossomed in the Orlando Pirates ranks during the heydays of Lebohang Mokoena , and Joseph Dukuduku Makhanya. No team had joy when the trio were in town.

Leremi had great work-rate and scored long-range thunderous goals. He became the Bucaneers' king pin at a young age and when on song he was just a joy to watch. He was on the verge of cementing a Bafana Bafana position that was thought to be a moulded South African representative in the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

So much was his influence that he made a debut at night in a Mandela Cup match at Ellis Park and showed no nerves at all despite the big occasion. Leremi was so much into his game that Mamelodi Sundowns paid a good sum to pry him off the Ghosts camp.

He moved to Sundowns where his form was emerging to maturity and was involved in the African safari matches with the Brazilians. He played in the Africa Champions' League and was enjoying his stay there.

As a player, he was a balanced dribbler with great vision and passed the ball well together with his fantastic scoring of essential goals. He was self motivated and knew where he wanted to be in his football and he enjoyed his football.

The world was denied to see Leremi's ingenuity at the world stage when the young player lost his life in a car accident. It was such a dark moment for football and his family, of course.

Remembering - Gift Mpho Leremi

Gift Mpho Leremi will be remembered by many as the best midfielder Bafana Bafana never really had. The young right footed linkman blossomed in the Orlando Pirates ranks during the heydays of Lebohang Mokoena , and Joseph Dukuduku Makhanya. No team had joy when the trio were in town.

Leremi had great work-rate and scored long-range thunderous goals. He became the Bucaneers' king pin at a young age and when on song he was just a joy to watch. He was on the verge of cementing a Bafana Bafana position that was thought to be a moulded South African representative in the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

So much was his influence that he made a debut at night in a Mandela Cup match at Ellis Park and showed no nerves at all despite the big occasion. Leremi was so much into his game that Mamelodi Sundowns paid a good sum to pry him off the Ghosts camp.

He moved to Sundowns where his form was emerging to maturity and was involved in the African safari matches with the Brazilians. He played in the Africa Champions' League and was enjoying his stay there.

As a player, he was a balanced dribbler with great vision and passed the ball well together with his fantastic scoring of essential goals. He was self motivated and knew where he wanted to be in his football and he enjoyed his football.

The world was denied to see Leremi's ingenuity at the world stage when the young player lost his life in a car accident. It was such a dark moment for football and his family, of course.

Just Where Is This Going?

When is this going to end? Just when? And where is it going anyway? Africa has been in need of putting it's name on the football map for a long time. The continent doubted its potential and ability. The hosting of the 2010 FIFA World Cup went a long in showing the world and indeed the Africans, what they can do.

The continent has produced some of the greatest craftsmen of the trade in George Weah, Abedi Pele, Jay Jay Okocha, Roger Milla, Samuel Eto'o, Lucas Radebe and Didier Drogba. There is a host of others as you may know. Most of these are developed and mature in Africa and go on to blossom overseas.

Zimbabwe has just handed a Belgian Tom Saintfiet a coaching contract. Details of his salaries may never be known as the national association are perennial begging bowl carriers. They are always cash-strapped, especially when they hire a local coach.

Cameroon signed a two-year contract with former Spain coach Javier Clemente to take over as its new national coach just recently. As part of the African disease of handing the local brand of football to foreigners, they think he will take them where no other coach has. Usually, they would rely on French coaches and their results are never better. I can tell you their purse gets worse with such contracts. 

For now, Ivory Coast have named Francois Zahoui, a local coach, as Sven-Goran Eriksson's successor as coach two weeks before they begin their African Nations Cup qualifying campaign. You will remember how dismal the Elephants were in the 2010 FIFA World Cup. The question however is, will he be getting $3 million in 4 months as Sven did?

Dario Bonetti is the expat Zambian coach who is expected to take their game to dizzy heights. I believe that these guys bring invaluable experience to the African game. They have been here for a long time and Africa is yet to reach a FIFA World Cup final. Hiring an Italian would have been wise when the Azzuri were still World Cup champions. With theie last tournament's performance still fresh in the minds of all of us, they are the last people you want to associate with in football terms. I expected Zambian football boss, Kalushya Bwalya, to trust his own.

The Zimbabwe Warriors coach, Saintfiet's successor in Namibia is Cambodian. Tae Hoon expressed that the players are now only 60 percent fit. I guess this is a pre-season excuse he has to his new emploetrs. It may be that he is trying to tell the Zimbabweans how bad Tom is. I really can't tell.

Kinnah Phiri is the Malawian coach. He is local but will always have his job 'just'. It is no rocket science that he is not earning much and he knows that as soon as the right expat comes cheap enough, he has CVs to post. His fears are shared by so many African coaches. Under the conditions, no matter how good you are, you never perform well with a dagga  on your throat as placed by the national association.

Angola have a French coach called Hervé Renard. They had a local guy who coached them to previous successes but we, Africans, prefer the failure of expats than glory of locals. That is how African administrators are wired. They consider all success of their people as a fluke and will prefer the witch doctors than the local coaches and will never pay players well unless expat coaches threaten them as Reinhard Fabisch did.

A former Kenyan coach deputized a German man Antoine Hey. Harambee assistant coach, Kenyan Twahir Muhiddin, was given a mandate by the Kenyan Football Association by default. Antoine Hey boycotted the team following a disagreement over the recalling of Edgar Ochieng with Kenyan bosses.

One of Africa's poorest nations, Ethiopia, hired British Efem Onura, 43, recently, they will fill his pockets with a cool monthly salary of $13,000, together with free telephone, housing and automobile for his stay in Ethiopia and free air tickets twice a year to travel to his country. Nobody can guarantee football results. They can only pledge to do their best as we all do. I hope Ethiopia will be a force to reckon with as they were when local coaches there were in charge.

The other African nation more famous for 'blood diamonds' and beautiful models have the government and Football Association signing a four-year deal with Hungarian coach Brtalan Bicskei. George Weah's Liberia committed to pay the Hungarian coach S$15,000,00 month after month.

Swazi's Shakes Mashaba is South African. Shakes is one of the South Africa's finest. He has done a fine job with Mzantsi's inland neighbours, but he was a 'stone the builders refused'.

The coach of Ghana's Black Stars is Milovan Rajevac, who is Serbian. My understanding is that he was being paid $40 000,00 from his previous contract before the FIFA World Cup. He had been negotiating for a 50% raise after they became the team of the tournament for Africa in the World Cup. The fact that he is still there may mean he got it.

Expats really bring a lot of confidence and technical know-how. They always have and will surely continue to do so. My problem is that the African coahces do not seem to be learning. Administrators would be giving them these jobs if they did. They will have to keep learning until the end of time.

My question is, how do you see if an African or local coach is able when they are never given a chance to prove themselves?  Most African nation's successes were achieved by local coaches, notably South Africa's 1996 Africa Nation's Cup victory as well as Zimbabwean appearances to the same tournaments in 2004 and 2006. 

A disgrace indeed.

Just Where Is This Going?

When is this going to end? Just when? And where is it going anyway? Africa has been in need of putting it's name on the football map for a long time. The continent doubted its potential and ability. The hosting of the 2010 FIFA World Cup went a long in showing the world and indeed the Africans, what they can do.

The continent has produced some of the greatest craftsmen of the trade in George Weah, Abedi Pele, Jay Jay Okocha, Roger Milla, Samuel Eto'o, Lucas Radebe and Didier Drogba. There is a host of others as you may know. Most of these are developed and mature in Africa and go on to blossom overseas.

Zimbabwe has just handed a Belgian Tom Saintfiet a coaching contract. Details of his salaries may never be known as the national association are perennial begging bowl carriers. They are always cash-strapped, especially when they hire a local coach.

Cameroon signed a two-year contract with former Spain coach Javier Clemente to take over as its new national coach just recently. As part of the African disease of handing the local brand of football to foreigners, they think he will take them where no other coach has. Usually, they would rely on French coaches and their results are never better. I can tell you their purse gets worse with such contracts. 

For now, Ivory Coast have named Francois Zahoui, a local coach, as Sven-Goran Eriksson's successor as coach two weeks before they begin their African Nations Cup qualifying campaign. You will remember how dismal the Elephants were in the 2010 FIFA World Cup. The question however is, will he be getting $3 million in 4 months as Sven did?

Dario Bonetti is the expat Zambian coach who is expected to take their game to dizzy heights. I believe that these guys bring invaluable experience to the African game. They have been here for a long time and Africa is yet to reach a FIFA World Cup final. Hiring an Italian would have been wise when the Azzuri were still World Cup champions. With theie last tournament's performance still fresh in the minds of all of us, they are the last people you want to associate with in football terms. I expected Zambian football boss, Kalushya Bwalya, to trust his own.

The Zimbabwe Warriors coach, Saintfiet's successor in Namibia is Cambodian. Tae Hoon expressed that the players are now only 60 percent fit. I guess this is a pre-season excuse he has to his new emploetrs. It may be that he is trying to tell the Zimbabweans how bad Tom is. I really can't tell.

Kinnah Phiri is the Malawian coach. He is local but will always have his job 'just'. It is no rocket science that he is not earning much and he knows that as soon as the right expat comes cheap enough, he has CVs to post. His fears are shared by so many African coaches. Under the conditions, no matter how good you are, you never perform well with a dagga  on your throat as placed by the national association.

Angola have a French coach called Hervé Renard. They had a local guy who coached them to previous successes but we, Africans, prefer the failure of expats than glory of locals. That is how African administrators are wired. They consider all success of their people as a fluke and will prefer the witch doctors than the local coaches and will never pay players well unless expat coaches threaten them as Reinhard Fabisch did.

A former Kenyan coach deputized a German man Antoine Hey. Harambee assistant coach, Kenyan Twahir Muhiddin, was given a mandate by the Kenyan Football Association by default. Antoine Hey boycotted the team following a disagreement over the recalling of Edgar Ochieng with Kenyan bosses.

One of Africa's poorest nations, Ethiopia, hired British Efem Onura, 43, recently, they will fill his pockets with a cool monthly salary of $13,000, together with free telephone, housing and automobile for his stay in Ethiopia and free air tickets twice a year to travel to his country. Nobody can guarantee football results. They can only pledge to do their best as we all do. I hope Ethiopia will be a force to reckon with as they were when local coaches there were in charge.

The other African nation more famous for 'blood diamonds' and beautiful models have the government and Football Association signing a four-year deal with Hungarian coach Brtalan Bicskei. George Weah's Liberia committed to pay the Hungarian coach S$15,000,00 month after month.

Swazi's Shakes Mashaba is South African. Shakes is one of the South Africa's finest. He has done a fine job with Mzantsi's inland neighbours, but he was a 'stone the builders refused'.

The coach of Ghana's Black Stars is Milovan Rajevac, who is Serbian. My understanding is that he was being paid $40 000,00 from his previous contract before the FIFA World Cup. He had been negotiating for a 50% raise after they became the team of the tournament for Africa in the World Cup. The fact that he is still there may mean he got it.

Expats really bring a lot of confidence and technical know-how. They always have and will surely continue to do so. My problem is that the African coahces do not seem to be learning. Administrators would be giving them these jobs if they did. They will have to keep learning until the end of time.

My question is, how do you see if an African or local coach is able when they are never given a chance to prove themselves?  Most African nation's successes were achieved by local coaches, notably South Africa's 1996 Africa Nation's Cup victory as well as Zimbabwean appearances to the same tournaments in 2004 and 2006. 

A disgrace indeed.

Just Where Is This Going?

When is this going to end? Just when? And where is it going anyway? Africa has been in need of putting it's name on the football map for a long time. The continent doubted its potential and ability. The hosting of the 2010 FIFA World Cup went a long in showing the world and indeed the Africans, what they can do.

The continent has produced some of the greatest craftsmen of the trade in George Weah, Abedi Pele, Jay Jay Okocha, Roger Milla, Samuel Eto'o, Lucas Radebe and Didier Drogba. There is a host of others as you may know. Most of these are developed and mature in Africa and go on to blossom overseas.

Zimbabwe has just handed a Belgian Tom Saintfiet a coaching contract. Details of his salaries may never be known as the national association are perennial begging bowl carriers. They are always cash-strapped, especially when they hire a local coach.

Cameroon signed a two-year contract with former Spain coach Javier Clemente to take over as its new national coach just recently. As part of the African disease of handing the local brand of football to foreigners, they think he will take them where no other coach has. Usually, they would rely on French coaches and their results are never better. I can tell you their purse gets worse with such contracts. 

For now, Ivory Coast have named Francois Zahoui, a local coach, as Sven-Goran Eriksson's successor as coach two weeks before they begin their African Nations Cup qualifying campaign. You will remember how dismal the Elephants were in the 2010 FIFA World Cup. The question however is, will he be getting $3 million in 4 months as Sven did?

Dario Bonetti is the expat Zambian coach who is expected to take their game to dizzy heights. I believe that these guys bring invaluable experience to the African game. They have been here for a long time and Africa is yet to reach a FIFA World Cup final. Hiring an Italian would have been wise when the Azzuri were still World Cup champions. With theie last tournament's performance still fresh in the minds of all of us, they are the last people you want to associate with in football terms. I expected Zambian football boss, Kalushya Bwalya, to trust his own.

The Zimbabwe Warriors coach, Saintfiet's successor in Namibia is Cambodian. Tae Hoon expressed that the players are now only 60 percent fit. I guess this is a pre-season excuse he has to his new emploetrs. It may be that he is trying to tell the Zimbabweans how bad Tom is. I really can't tell.

Kinnah Phiri is the Malawian coach. He is local but will always have his job 'just'. It is no rocket science that he is not earning much and he knows that as soon as the right expat comes cheap enough, he has CVs to post. His fears are shared by so many African coaches. Under the conditions, no matter how good you are, you never perform well with a dagga  on your throat as placed by the national association.

Angola have a French coach called Hervé Renard. They had a local guy who coached them to previous successes but we, Africans, prefer the failure of expats than glory of locals. That is how African administrators are wired. They consider all success of their people as a fluke and will prefer the witch doctors than the local coaches and will never pay players well unless expat coaches threaten them as Reinhard Fabisch did.

A former Kenyan coach deputized a German man Antoine Hey. Harambee assistant coach, Kenyan Twahir Muhiddin, was given a mandate by the Kenyan Football Association by default. Antoine Hey boycotted the team following a disagreement over the recalling of Edgar Ochieng with Kenyan bosses.

One of Africa's poorest nations, Ethiopia, hired British Efem Onura, 43, recently, they will fill his pockets with a cool monthly salary of $13,000, together with free telephone, housing and automobile for his stay in Ethiopia and free air tickets twice a year to travel to his country. Nobody can guarantee football results. They can only pledge to do their best as we all do. I hope Ethiopia will be a force to reckon with as they were when local coaches there were in charge.

The other African nation more famous for 'blood diamonds' and beautiful models have the government and Football Association signing a four-year deal with Hungarian coach Brtalan Bicskei. George Weah's Liberia committed to pay the Hungarian coach S$15,000,00 month after month.

Swazi's Shakes Mashaba is South African. Shakes is one of the South Africa's finest. He has done a fine job with Mzantsi's inland neighbours, but he was a 'stone the builders refused'.

The coach of Ghana's Black Stars is Milovan Rajevac, who is Serbian. My understanding is that he was being paid $40 000,00 from his previous contract before the FIFA World Cup. He had been negotiating for a 50% raise after they became the team of the tournament for Africa in the World Cup. The fact that he is still there may mean he got it.

Expats really bring a lot of confidence and technical know-how. They always have and will surely continue to do so. My problem is that the African coahces do not seem to be learning. Administrators would be giving them these jobs if they did. They will have to keep learning until the end of time.

My question is, how do you see if an African or local coach is able when they are never given a chance to prove themselves?  Most African nation's successes were achieved by local coaches, notably South Africa's 1996 Africa Nation's Cup victory as well as Zimbabwean appearances to the same tournaments in 2004 and 2006. 

A disgrace indeed.

Just Where Is This Going?

When is this going to end? Just when? And where is it going anyway? Africa has been in need of putting it's name on the football map for a long time. The continent doubted its potential and ability. The hosting of the 2010 FIFA World Cup went a long in showing the world and indeed the Africans, what they can do.

The continent has produced some of the greatest craftsmen of the trade in George Weah, Abedi Pele, Jay Jay Okocha, Roger Milla, Samuel Eto'o, Lucas Radebe and Didier Drogba. There is a host of others as you may know. Most of these are developed and mature in Africa and go on to blossom overseas.

Zimbabwe has just handed a Belgian Tom Saintfiet a coaching contract. Details of his salaries may never be known as the national association are perennial begging bowl carriers. They are always cash-strapped, especially when they hire a local coach.

Cameroon signed a two-year contract with former Spain coach Javier Clemente to take over as its new national coach just recently. As part of the African disease of handing the local brand of football to foreigners, they think he will take them where no other coach has. Usually, they would rely on French coaches and their results are never better. I can tell you their purse gets worse with such contracts. 

For now, Ivory Coast have named Francois Zahoui, a local coach, as Sven-Goran Eriksson's successor as coach two weeks before they begin their African Nations Cup qualifying campaign. You will remember how dismal the Elephants were in the 2010 FIFA World Cup. The question however is, will he be getting $3 million in 4 months as Sven did?

Dario Bonetti is the expat Zambian coach who is expected to take their game to dizzy heights. I believe that these guys bring invaluable experience to the African game. They have been here for a long time and Africa is yet to reach a FIFA World Cup final. Hiring an Italian would have been wise when the Azzuri were still World Cup champions. With theie last tournament's performance still fresh in the minds of all of us, they are the last people you want to associate with in football terms. I expected Zambian football boss, Kalushya Bwalya, to trust his own.

The Zimbabwe Warriors coach, Saintfiet's successor in Namibia is Cambodian. Tae Hoon expressed that the players are now only 60 percent fit. I guess this is a pre-season excuse he has to his new emploetrs. It may be that he is trying to tell the Zimbabweans how bad Tom is. I really can't tell.

Kinnah Phiri is the Malawian coach. He is local but will always have his job 'just'. It is no rocket science that he is not earning much and he knows that as soon as the right expat comes cheap enough, he has CVs to post. His fears are shared by so many African coaches. Under the conditions, no matter how good you are, you never perform well with a dagga  on your throat as placed by the national association.

Angola have a French coach called Hervé Renard. They had a local guy who coached them to previous successes but we, Africans, prefer the failure of expats than glory of locals. That is how African administrators are wired. They consider all success of their people as a fluke and will prefer the witch doctors than the local coaches and will never pay players well unless expat coaches threaten them as Reinhard Fabisch did.

A former Kenyan coach deputized a German man Antoine Hey. Harambee assistant coach, Kenyan Twahir Muhiddin, was given a mandate by the Kenyan Football Association by default. Antoine Hey boycotted the team following a disagreement over the recalling of Edgar Ochieng with Kenyan bosses.

One of Africa's poorest nations, Ethiopia, hired British Efem Onura, 43, recently, they will fill his pockets with a cool monthly salary of $13,000, together with free telephone, housing and automobile for his stay in Ethiopia and free air tickets twice a year to travel to his country. Nobody can guarantee football results. They can only pledge to do their best as we all do. I hope Ethiopia will be a force to reckon with as they were when local coaches there were in charge.

The other African nation more famous for 'blood diamonds' and beautiful models have the government and Football Association signing a four-year deal with Hungarian coach Brtalan Bicskei. George Weah's Liberia committed to pay the Hungarian coach S$15,000,00 month after month.

Swazi's Shakes Mashaba is South African. Shakes is one of the South Africa's finest. He has done a fine job with Mzantsi's inland neighbours, but he was a 'stone the builders refused'.

The coach of Ghana's Black Stars is Milovan Rajevac, who is Serbian. My understanding is that he was being paid $40 000,00 from his previous contract before the FIFA World Cup. He had been negotiating for a 50% raise after they became the team of the tournament for Africa in the World Cup. The fact that he is still there may mean he got it.

Expats really bring a lot of confidence and technical know-how. They always have and will surely continue to do so. My problem is that the African coahces do not seem to be learning. Administrators would be giving them these jobs if they did. They will have to keep learning until the end of time.

My question is, how do you see if an African or local coach is able when they are never given a chance to prove themselves?  Most African nation's successes were achieved by local coaches, notably South Africa's 1996 Africa Nation's Cup victory as well as Zimbabwean appearances to the same tournaments in 2004 and 2006. 

A disgrace indeed.