Jump to content

Portal:Football in Africa

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Introduction

Cameroon's Benoît Assou-Ekotto jostles for possession with Mustapha Allaoui of Morocco

Football is the most popular sport in Africa, alongside basketball. Indeed, football is probably the most popular sport in every African country, although rugby and cricket are also very popular in South Africa. The first football stadium to be built in Africa was the Alexandria Stadium in 1929.

The English Premier League is the most popular sports league in Africa. The most popular clubs in Africa are Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United. (Full article...)

Football was first introduced to Africa in the early 1860s by Europeans,[1] due to the colonisation of Africa. The first recorded games were played in South Africa in 1862 between soldiers and civil servants and there were no established rules for the game at this time;[2]" Initially, there were various forms of playing the game, which included elements of both rugby and soccer. It was not until October 26, 1863 that the "rules of association football were codified."[2] The first official football organization in Africa, Pietermaritzburg County Football Association, was established in 1880.Teams were being established in South Africa before 1900, Egypt and in Algeria during a similar time period. Savages FC (Pietermaritzburg, South Africa), L'Oranaise Club (Oran, Algeria) and Gezira SC (Alexandria, Egypt) are the oldest African football clubs that remain in existence. The tree clubs began play in 1882, followed by Alexandria SC (1890), CDJ Oran from Algeria in 1894 and CAL Oran from Algeria too in 1897. By the 1930s, football was being played in Central Africa. In 1882, the first national governing body on the content was formed, South African Football Association (SAFA). SAFA was a whites-only association that became the first member of FIFA in South Africa in 1910.[2]
Egyptian Olympic football team, 1928
As Africa is a highly superstitious continent many African teams depend on witch doctors for success.[3][4][5][6][7] Activities that witch doctors have performed for teams include cutting players, placing potions on equipment, and sacrificing animals.[8]
Zamalek Sporting Club (Arabic: نادي الزمالك للألعاب الرياضية), commonly referred to as Zamalek, is an Egyptian professional sports club based in Giza, Egypt. The club is best known for its professional men's football team, which plays in the Egyptian Premier League, the top tier of the Egyptian football league system. The club is renowned for its consistent success at both domestic and continental levels, regularly contending in CAF tournaments.

Founded on 5 January 1911 as Qasr El Nile Club, the club has traditionally worn a white home kit since its inception. The club's name was changed two years later to Cairo International Sports Club (Zamalek), colloquially El Qāhirah El Mokhtalat Club or El Mokhtalat Club. The club is credited to be the only Egyptian club to participate in the Sultan Hussein Cup as a sign of resistance to the British presence in Egypt and a way to display the Egyptian presence in the sport. Zamalek reached the final of the first edition in 1917 and this encouraged other Egyptian clubs to participate. In 1941, the club was granted the honorific title after Farouk I and became officially known as Farouk El Awal Club (transl. Farouk I Club), however, since the 1910s, Zamalek was the club's unofficial name and it became official after the 1952 Egyptian Revolution.

Domestically, Zamalek established itself as one of the two major forces in Egyptian football during the 1920s, as it is the first Egyptian team to ever win a title. Zamalek was the first Egyptian team to win Sultan Hussein Cup in 1921, and the first team to win the Egypt Cup in 1922; and the first team to win the Cairo League in 1922–23. In domestic football, the club has won 65 trophies; 14 Egyptian Premier League titles, 28 Egypt Cup titles, 4 Egyptian Super Cup titles, 14 Cairo League titles, 2 Sultan Hussein Cup titles, and a record of one title for each of the October League Cup, Egyptian Friendship Cup and Egyptian Confederation Cup. It is one of two clubs that have played in every season of the Egyptian Premier League, and one of seven that have never been relegated to the Egyptian Second Division.

Selected biography - show another

Mario Lemina in 2013
Mario Lemina is a Gabonese professional footballer for English club Southampton and the Gabon national team. He played for French sides Lorient and Marseille, before joining Italian side Juventus in 2015, where he won the domestic double in both of his seasons with the club.

Lemina began his career in France with the Lorient youth academy at the age of 11; he was later promoted to the first team during the 2012–13 season, his only season with the club. The following season, he joined Marseille for €4 million, although he initially struggled to gain playing time in his first year with the club, making only eight league starts during the 2013–14 season. He began to be used more frequently by manager Marcelo Bielsa during the 2014–15 season, making his breakthrough with the club as he helped the team to a fourth-place finish. On 31 August 2015,Juventus announced the signing of Lemina on a season-long loan for €500,000 with an option to buy for €9.5 million at the end of the 2015–16 season, in which he helped his team achieve a domestic double. His loan was made permanent in April 2016. On 8 August 2017, Lemina joined Southampton on a five-year deal for a club record fee of £15.4 million.

Lemina represented France at under-20 and under-21 level, winning the 2013 FIFA U-20 World Cup before opting to represent Gabon at senior level in June 2015. He scored on his international debut in a 3–3 friendly draw against Tunisia on 9 October 2015.

Selected image - show another

Boys playing street football in Egypt
Boys playing street football in Egypt
Credit: Mohamed Hozyen Ahmed

Boys playing street football in Egypt

Subcategories

Category puzzle
Category puzzle
Select [►] to view subcategories

More sports portals

WikiProjects

Topics

Open tasks

Associated Wikimedia

The following Wikimedia Foundation sister projects provide more on this subject:

More portals

Sources

  1. ^ "The History Of Soccer In Africa". NPR.org. 2010-06-09. Retrieved 2016-03-31.
  2. ^ a b c Alegi, Peter (2010). African Soccerscapes. Ohio University Press. pp. 1–2. ISBN 9780896802780.
  3. ^ Frimpong, Enoch Darfah. "Ghana news: A world of superstition, frustration and disillusionment - Graphic Online". Retrieved 23 September 2017.
  4. ^ Lacey, Marc (8 August 2002). "Kangemi Journal; For Spellbinding Soccer, the Juju Man's on the Ball". The New York Times. NY Times. Retrieved 2016-03-31.
  5. ^ "World Cup Witchcraft: Africa Teams Turn to Magic for Aid". National Geographic. Archived from the original on July 10, 2006. Retrieved 2016-03-31.
  6. ^ Andy Mitten (September 2010). The Rough Guide to Cult Football. Rough Guides UK. ISBN 9781405387965. Retrieved 2016-04-02.
  7. ^ "African Nations Cup overshadowed by hocus pocus | Football". The Guardian. Retrieved 2016-04-09.
  8. ^ Kuper, Simon (2006). Soccer Against the Enemy: How the World's Most Popular Sport Starts and Stops Wars, Fuels Revolutions, and Keeps Dictators in Power. Nation Books. p. 123. ISBN 978-1-56025-878-0.