What's wrong with African football?

On Thursday night I arrived in Cape Town and headed straight for Green Point Stadium to see the Netherlands vs Cameroon. When the draw was made last December I had thought it might be the deciding game of the group, and that Cameroon would at least have a chance of qualifying for the round of 16. In fact it was a wake.

Cameroon were already out of the tournament, along with three other African teams – South Africa, Algeria and Nigeria—and though Ghana were through, Cote d'Ivoire's chances rested on scoring nine goals against North Korea. As I write this, they too have been knocked out. Cameroon’s performance was lamentable. Of course, they had nothing to play for but pride, but that did not seem to be enough. In fact, both sides appeared to be going through the motions, and in Cameroon’s case those were mostly lateral if not backward.

What, if anything, does this tell us about the state of African football? Judging the continent on the basis of a single tournament is not without its problems. For example Egypt, easily the best team in Africa over the last decade, are not here. A number of the squads lost key players in the run up to the World Cup; Cote d’Ivore, as in 2006, had a fantastically difficult group. Nonetheless, the record is stark. Out of eighteen games, African sides have won three, drawn five and lost ten. Only Ghana progressed, and they did so without scoring a goal from open play.

African football has been undermined by the unequal exchange that exists between the continent and Europe. Africa provides highly skilled labour at knock-down prices to almost every league in Europe. The money that is made is concentrated in private hands and scouting and academy networks that enrich a few, but return little to the wider grassroots game that they depend upon. The quality of local leagues and interest in them has been undermined by the departure of the stars and, simultaneously, by easy access to European football on satellite television.

However, the same could be said for Uruguayan football, a country that sends nearly all of its best players overseas for their bulk of their career and whose domestic football is a in a parlous state. A strong domestic league is no guarantee of success either: England, with the richest league in the world, have struggled and Italy and France, whose top leagues have incomes that exceed most of Africa's combined, have gone home early. South Africa’s’ domestic league is considerably richer and better-resourced than any other African country, but this has not translated into results. They would not have been playing in this tournament if they hadn’t been hosting it.

One can’t account for the performance of the African teams by arguing that they lack organisation or tactical nous on the pitch, both standard elements of the explanatory repertoire in the past. All of these teams, bar South Africa, have a large core of players totally accustomed to the tactics, training and play of European professional football. What appears to be lacking is any long-term transfer of the organisational skills and practice of the best run clubs and national associations to Africa.

Another reason, though, why African teams may have struggled at this World Cup is the very late and disputed coaching changes for Nigeria and Cote d’Ivoire—a problem endemic to international football in the region. South Africa have been through over a dozen coaches in the last decade, some twice. African football associations are riven by internal conflicts, and they make hasty and ill-judged decisions. It has always amazed me that Fifa are prepared to intervene sharply and decisively when any national government dares to poke its nose into the affairs of national football associations on the ground that football must remain separate from politics, but that they are happy to turn a blind eye to the incredibly destructive internal politics and pillage that goes on inside them.

The Nigerian preparations for the tournament were particularly chaotic, culminating in the friendly game played in Tembisa township that saw a disastrous crowd crush. The Ghanaian camp, which has been a smoother operation that most, has become fraught since it was revealed that many of the tickets that the government had bought for supporters clubs and others had been sold on by officials or given to their relatives.

There are going to be a lot of post mortems after this tournament, but I wonder whether any of them will address themselves to this kind of problem, rather than offering the usual mealy-mouthed explanations and apologies. South Africa has demonstrated that an entire world cup can be organised in Africa. It remains to be seen whether an African football association can do as well with their own squads.