Africa, Football And Fifa: Politics, Colonialism & Resistance

Description:
The emblem of the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), is claimed to symbolize a 'global fraternity united in sport'. However, the globalization of relations between football's national associations, intercontinental federations and the world body have more often been conducted on the basis of parochial, national or regional loyalties rather than on a sense of internationalism. Nowhere has this been more apparent than in the relationship between FIFA and the Confederation Africaine de Football. This book explores the role of FIFA in brokering the development of football in Africa and its relationship with that continent's football associations and regional governing body. Africa is no longer on the periphery of world football but the economic disparities between the first and the third worlds hinder the development of the game. The author shows convincingly how Africa's advance within world football is tied to its national political economy and how the balance of power within FIFA still clearly favours its European members.

Table of Contents:
Football diffusion and colonial doctrine in Africa; football, indigenous resistance and African independence; FIFA, Eurocentrism and the distribution of power in world football; Africa, Third World solidarity and the FIFA Presidency; Havelange, African resistance and the struggle for global equity; UEFA, FIFA and the scramble for Africa; Africa and the campaign for the summit of world football; theorizing Africa's place in FIFA's global order.