Egypt's football kitchen
For struggling African footballers, Egypt's historic leagues and clubs offer the springboard to hope
The pursuit of a chosen sport as a profession is never an easy task to undertake. In the case of the continent of Africa -- lacking the necessary abundance of financing for "games" -- that task is made no easier.
In football -- given its place as the most popular sport on planet earth -- the fight for a pro place forms a league of its own. Most of the football leagues in Africa do not give players the chance to make a liveable career within the professional soccer arena, which is why the majority of Africa's leading footballers leave the continent to ply their trade in Europe, Asia and the Americas. Last official figures cite over 250 Africans playing in the first and second divisions of Europe alone. Guesstimates say the number is closer to double if players elsewhere in the world are factored in as well.
Within the African continent, however, there are also nations that offer promise and the temptation of potentially lucrative careers. The migration is notably to the nations currently bidding to host the 2010 World Cup. In Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia and South Africa, most of the first division clubs host name rosters which include foreign-sounding names.
One of the most profound of those migrations was that of Nigerian winder Sunday Ibeji -- who stunned the world during his 2001/2002 year with Egypt's Red Devils Ahli. His diminutive frame held within it a sparkling talent, which Egypt's football scouts recognised long before the rest of the world. The result was Ibeji's chance to play with one of Africa's strongest teams, going on with them to win the African Champions League -- the top club prize on the continent.
Ibeji sky-rocketed through his Ahli place to global recognition.
Ibeji came to Egypt after playing against Ahli in the Champions League in 2000. Then in the colours of his local club Lobi Stars, for whom he clinched the 1999 Nigerian Championship, he was spotted by the sharp-eyed football scouts.
"Ahli saw me and they approached me to come and play for them the next year," he explained to the press. "I was very honoured to do so because the club has such a famous name around Africa."
Ibeji then played a leading role as Ahli claimed the most prestigious trophy in African club soccer in December 2001. His stellar performances and widely- gained respect was the catalyst for his being called up to the Nigerian national team for the first time as they prepared for the upcoming World Cup finals in 2002.
"It was a wonderful feeling, the highlight of my career," he said. "I was grateful for my Ahli opportunity then."
Ibeji's ambitions mirror all of those from Africa who have passed through the Egyptian league before him. While Egypt is still seen as a relative "transit stop" to more lucrative football pastures in Europe, the nation has unquestionably developed a solid footballing infrastructure, a competitive league, world-class training programmes and trainers, and some of the most fanatical fans anywhere in the world.
The country's place in this football market is weighty and strategic. Egyptian clubs have been reputed to perceive the purchase of players from other African clubs as good business. Based on past performances, Egypt is confident in its abilities to take African "hopefuls" and mould them into players with world-class skill and World Cup potential. In recent years examples of such market playing have included John Otaka, who left Ismailia for the United Arab Emirates, or the former Ghanaian international Felix Aboagye, who was a firm favourite at Cairo club Zamalek before going to play in Turkey.
In the case of Ibeji, and many knocking at the doors, the opportunity to leave his homeland and indulge in the Egyptian football arena has been the springboard to his current global recognition and future international success.
