How can African teams benefit from European leagues?

Over the next few days, African clubs have three high profile friendly matches lined up against teams from some of the world’s elite football leagues.

Social media, the new-found barometer of status, is alive with raucous comments and varied opinions about the different guest teams, never mind the fact that the friendly games will last 90 short minutes each.

La Liga giants Barcelona will be in South Africa on Wednesday for a friendly match against ABSA Premiership champions Mamelodi Sundowns, English Championship side Hull City is in Kenya for a similar engagement with local champions Gor Mahia, and Netherlands’ top flight team Ajax Amsterdam played against Egyptian side Al Ahly on Friday night in Dubai in yet another friendly.

Against South Africa’s Masandawana, Barcelona will be commemorating what would have been Nelson Mandela’s 100th birthday and the showdown is set to take place at the FNB Stadium, formerly known as Soccer City Stadium.

The teams will be playing for the Mandela Centenary Cup, which forms part of the celebrations of the life of the anti-apartheid hero in 2018. Needless to say, it will offer South African supporters of Barca a once in a lifetime opportunity to interact with their favourite players, as the players get to square it out against some of their biggest idols.

AL AHLY BEAT AJAX

The match between Ajax Amsterdam and Al Ahly was played on Friday evening at the United Arab Emirates city of Al-Ain, and ended 1-0 in favour of the Egyptians. It was nothing more than a testimonial for midfielder Hossam Ghaly who has since retired from his boyhood club.

And on Sunday, Kenyan football enthusiasts will be treated to another friendly match between English Championship side Hull City and defending champions Gor Mahia at the Moi International Sports Centre in Kasarani. This leaves only the Bundesliga, Serie A and Ligue 1 as the other elite football leagues which will not be engaging an African team in a friendly. Not that they are disinterested.

Henning Brinkmann, the Bundesliga Sales Manager for Audiovisual rights in Africa and Europe, said two weeks ago that plans are underway to ensure that a professional German league side tours Africa.

Brinkmann said Africa is key in Bundesliga’s expansion plans, and bringing a Bundesliga team for friendlies in Africa is part of their future plans to promote the league in Kenya and in Africa as a whole.

“We have a strong connection to Africa. So many African players have succeeded here and that has helped us establish presence in the continent. Really we have to thank African players for their influence in German football. (Augustine Jay Jay) Okocha, for instance, greatly impacted our style of play.

“We are encouraging clubs like Bayern Munich to go out and engage with our fans from outside Germany, but organising a friendly match in Africa calls for consideration of several factors. However, we see interest from the clubs to grow their brands internationally so that shouldn’t be a big problem,” he said.

So is all this by chance? Is this sudden clamour for Africa from foreign leagues a mere coincidence? Certainly not. Fierce market competition, growing disparity in income in the money-minting leagues abroad, coupled with the increasing migration of Africa’s best players to Europe, seems to have made Africa a point of interest to these leagues.

African teams and coaches should in turn learn better training methods, new approaches to the game and techniques of controlling hooliganism.

In most European countries, top flight leagues and clubs are going through stormy weather as they try to weather cut-throat competition for fan base not just in Africa but around the world.

The English Premier League has set the bar high in terms of dazzling marketing and activations strategies, and they control a huge market share in Africa as testimony to the hard marketing work they undertook a decade ago. Germany, Spain are watching. Not to be left behind is China, who are the new entrants in the game. Having aced the technology sector, the Chinese now appear keen to venture into the world of sports, and where better to start than with the most watched and loved game in the world?

Through StarTimes, the Chinese have spent the last three years acquiring expensive rights for European leagues, acquiring expensive players around the world and as a sign of how serious they would like to be taken, they recently acquired broadcast rights for 2018 Fifa World Cup.

On a pan-African media tour of Germany organised by the Chinese company last month, StarTimes revealed findings that indicate that the Bundesliga commands a huge audience in Africa, with Kenya leading in terms of viewership.

So, in a country where millions of fans support European league football at the expense of their own, are players, fans and other stakeholders getting the best from such partnerships? Are friendly matches and day-long coaching clinics enough? 

“Fans expect a stronger support from these foreign leagues as long-standing allies and as a promoter of the development of African football. African football is not where it should be and a large part of that is because Africans spend a lot more time watching foreign leagues than their own leagues so if it is about giving back, it should be about tangible solutions being able to ensure African football also grows,” said Robert Osiany, an ardent Arsenal fan in Nairobi.

Clubs from elite European leagues have been touring Africa for years, but the need to grow their fan base in the recent past has seen more emphasis on such tours. With the American and Asian market also providing new opportunities for the clubs, Africa clubs have to position themselves well to gain from such trips.

In 2012, Premier League giants toured South Africa while their arch-rivals Liverpool were there two years earlier. Newly crowned Premiership champions Manchester City, then under Manuel Pellegrini, also visited south Africa in the summer of 2013 for a preseason tour.

In February this year, Arsenal announced plans to visit Africa for the first time in 26 years. The last time the Gunners visited the continent was in 1993 during the pre-season tour of South Africa where they played Premier League foes Manchester United and local giants Orlando Pirates and Kaizer Chiefs.

So what could be done to ensure such partnerships bear tangible fruits that are of benefit to both parties? Dean Windass, a former Hull City player and now a club ambassador, says that football is not just about the 90 minutes on the field. It is about other off-pitch factors too.

BENEFITS FOR CLUBS

“As a footballer, it’s not just about playing. Everything you do off the field matters as well. This is my second time here and I know there is immense talent in Kenya. However, leadership, good policy and governance is critical if any good results are to be achieved. With more open mindedness from all stakeholders I think Kenya can become a great footballing country," said Windass, who scored 82 goals in 205 matches for Hull City, making him the club’s fifth all-time top scorer.

Imagine a team like Hull City, a championship side, establishing itself as a football club of mighty proportions by Kenyan standards, never mind that it doesn’t command a fraction of the support that Arsenal, Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool control in the country.

That little Hull City can have a fully functional secretariat complete with Information Technology, Public Relations, Sports and Science departments, that it can have full-time programmes for Under-18 and U-23 development teams, that it can have players from those youth teams run over Kenya’s best talents says something about the state of football in our country.

I was privileged to join Hull City at their base in Kingston-Upon-Hull last year and at the Bishop Burton College and University of Hull, which are institutions that have partnered with Hull City club, the management there sets aside millions of pounds every financial year for the maintenance of its pitches and for general development of sports.

The result is that those colleges currently have eight full-size football pitches, all of them with playing surfaces that truly surpass that of Kenya’s best pitch at Kasarani Stadium.

The club also realises substantial revenue from gate collection and television rights. During a match between the club and Burnley, which I attended, there were 21,650 fans inside the stadium, and tickets went for 33 pounds (around Sh4,257) each.

That means that the club realised close to Sh100 million from that game only, which is nearly five times more than Gor Mahia makes from gate collection every season.

One hopes that beside the friendly match, local football leaders are deriving such lessons from their interaction with the foreign clubs and finding suitable ways of dealing with the fan apathy that has led to the dwindling stadium attendance in the Kenyan Premier League. Starting with club Hoffenheim, Bundesliga International has laid down grassroots programmes in South Africa and Namibia where they regularly conduct coaching clinics. 

“It is through such long term investments in grassroots football, as well as proper capacity building for the football leaders, will go a long way in complimenting friendly matches that are now becoming a routine within African countries,” says Gor Mahia Chief executive Officer Lordvick Aduda.

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Kenyan football fans are understandably excited by the visit of English Championship team Hull City for a friendly football match with Kenyan champions Gor Mahia. The match, to be played on Sunday at Kasarani Stadium, offers opportunities for local players, coaches and clubs to learn on many fronts, with a view to improving their lot.

Last year, Gor Mahia played English Premier League team Everton in SportPesa Super Cup in Dar es Salaam, losing 2-1.

Hull City’s four-day tour comes nearly four decades since another European side, Germany's Eintracht Frankfurt, toured Kenya and played against local select teams. English teams Blackpool FC and West Bromwich also toured Kenya, bringing with them star players such as Sir Stanley Matthews and Jeff Atsle.

Hull City's trip to Kenya is particularly timely for Gor Mahia, which is competing in Caf Confederation Cup. It offers Gor Mahia players an opportunity to test themselves against top opposition ahead of their Group D match against Algeria’s USM Alger at Kasarani on Wednesday. Gor should use the match to gain much-needed exposure if the club is to compete effectively in Caf Confederation Cup.

Hull City’s trip also offers local coaches a chance to learn from their English counterparts, and also promotes Sports tourism in Kenya.

The friendly match also offers local players an opportunity to showcase their skills, what with many scouts watching. Kenyan coaches and administrators should seize the opportunity to pick useful tips in club management and preparation for matches from their European counterparts.