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Portal:Football in Africa

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Introduction

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

Football is the most popular sport in Africa. Indeed, football is probably the most popular sport in every African country, although rugby and cricket are also very popular in South Africa. (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), and Gezira SC are the oldest African football clubs that remain in existence. Both 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]
TP Mazembe squad in April 2011
Tout Puissant Mazembe, commonly referred to as TP Mazembe, is a Congolese professional football club based in Lubumbashi.

Tout Puissant Mazembe, the first sports club from the Democratic Republic of the Congo with a value of at least $10 million, was originally founded by the Benedictine monks who directed the Institut Saint-Boniface school in Élisabethville (modern-day Lubumbashi) in Katanga Province.[9] The missionaries originally decided in 1939 to established a football team for the students' Boy Scout troop, named Saint Georges FC, after the patron saint of the Scouting movement. This team affiliated itself directly in the first division of the Royal Federation of the Native Athletic Associations (Fédération Royale des Associations Sportives Indigènes, FRASI) founded by the Belgian King. At the end of the season, Holy Georges placed 3rd.

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Yannick Bolasie in 2015
Yannick Bolasie is a Congolese professional footballer who plays as a winger for Premier League club Everton and the DR Congo national team.

Bolasie began his career with Rushden & Diamonds at the age of 16. He spent four months as a member of their youth team and then had a spell with Hillingdon Borough in the Southern Football League, before moving across Europe to play for Floriana in the Maltese Premier League. He returned to England in 2008 after being offered a trial with Plymouth Argyle, and impressed enough to be offered a two-year contract. He went on to play in the Football League for Plymouth Argyle, Barnet, Bristol City and Crystal Palace before joining Everton for a reported £25 million in 2016.

Bolasie was eligible to represent France, England and DR Congo internationally through birth, upbringing and heritage respectively. In January 2013 while playing in the Championship for Crystal Palace, Bolasie rejected the chance to represent the DR Congo in the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations claiming that he did not want to disrupt making progress in his club career. In March 2013, Bolasie was again called up to the Democratic Republic of Congo squad, and made his international debut in a 2014 World Cup qualification 0–0 draw with Libya.

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

Boys playing street football in Egypt

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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.
  9. ^ Legge, David (17 September 2009). "Win or bust for former champions Etoile". AFP. Archived from the original on 3 January 2013. Retrieved 18 September 2009.