During German broadcaster ARD’s coverage of the Germany and Côte d’Ivoire match, former Deutschland national team international and legend Bastian Schweinsteiger made a comment about African football, describing it as “a bit wild, a bit unorthodox and perhaps not so conditioned by tactics.” A few days letter in a pre-match press conference, Côte d’Ivoire manager Emerse Fae labeled Schweinsteiger’s commentary as “racist.”
ARD Head of Sport Axel Balkausky came in Schweinsteiger’s defense, essentially stating nothing racist was said. Although Schweinsteiger and his team retorted, claiming he was talking about the football and not the people, it’s a comment that is charged with undertones perpetuating the stereotype that black athletes lack intellect. His commentary also screams he doesn’t watch African football.
European allies, in particular German and UK entities (specifically the anti-discrimination group Kick It Out), condemned Schweinsteiger’s comments. And I’m impressed with the football community’s efforts to make known Africa’s overall football quality and dispel the tropes in Schweinsteiger’s comments. I especially like Thierry Henry and Clarence Seedorf’s intentionality in elevating the achievements of African football players and teams.
Henry has always used his stature to surface issues around discrimination in football. He’s been the subject of racial abuse as a professional football player, and has become a leading voice in condemning it, evidenced recently in the UEFA Champions League incident between an Argentinian Benfica player and Real Madrid and Brazil star winger Vinicius Junior. Henry even quit social media for several years as a stance against racism and vowed to return until major social media platforms can reprimand anonymous users for inciting racially abuse.
And Henry during this World Cup has used his fame to elevate the profile and performances of African football teams.
I can’t stop thinking about Henry’s comments on the FOX World Cup coverage following Cabo Verde’s historic Round of 32 achievement in their first World Cup tournament.
“If you don’t watch African football, that’s on you. It’s a good team that knocked out Cameroon in the qualifiers and is not an easy thing to do if you know your African football. And they did it with style. 23 points to qualify. They are here. They didn’t lose a game [in the World Cup]. Yes, people will tell me that they didn’t win one. It doesn’t matter. I said to you that if they qualify, all the little islands they will be dancing [and are] going to make their way to the US. Listen, Cabo Verde. Well done. Wow.”
It’s a positive message to frame the success of Cabo Verde. He contextualizes their challenging World Cup qualification journey context of their journey while combating Cameroon, the African country with the most World Cup tournament appearances. He highlights Cabo Verde’s versatility in style of play in that they can play with style and with grit. Henry also is familiar with the type of quality players Cabo Verde produces given two of his former France national team teammates in Patrick Vieira and Patrice Evra trace their ancestry there and could have represented them internationally.
His comments on Cabo Verde are overwhelmingly positive, but he spreads the wealth, commending the efforts of other African countries:
“You have to give a shout-out to the African teams: South Africa, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Cabo Verde, Morocco. It’s nice to see what the African teams are doing in this tournament.”
I like to believe Thierry’s ardent support and advocacy for African teams has rubbed off on some of his analyst colleagues like Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Alexi Lalas, with the former refocusing the narrative on Democractic Republic of Congo’s effort in drawing against Portugal rather than discussing Portugal’s poor performance and Ronaldo’s anonymity.
Clarence Seedorf has also chimed in on the conversation around African football. The former legendary Netherlands player served as coach to the Cameroon national football team for a year. After Egypt’s draw with Iran, that made Senegal the 7th African nation to advance to the Round of 32. He said this about African football during FOX’s post match World Cup coverage:
“This was a natural evolution, it was about to happen. African nations have leveled up with world football. And we have seen tactics, discipline, execution for the full matches. There are no more outsiders here. And I think we can expect a lot more because today we saw a Senegal that we actually expected in the previous matches. That is a serious team to follow onwards.”
His comments acknowledged the development of African football over the years, with a heavy emphasis on their tactical skill and delivery of an organized game plan, directly contrasting Schweinsteiger’s comments. Even former Nigeria Super Eagles captain and co-analyst with Seedorf Mikel John Obi double-clicked on the tactical expertise in African football thats always been present in the game.
African teams belong—there needn’t be a surprise when they do well.
People like Schweinsteiger need to have the cultural understanding of the words they say and how they could be interpreted, because it’s essential. Former players’ words have weight. Casual or new football fans who aren’t able to critique blanketed statements like Schweinsteiger’s will believe it as truth even though it’s far from it.
African football is real! And it’s tactical, cerebral aspects are making forays into the mainstream.
Follow me on Bluesky!
SuperBafanaStars 
Leave a comment