This year [2018], there will be two additional African teams in the competition: France and Belgium.
-Laurent Dubois in Afro-Europe in the World Cup
Within the last few decades, Africa has established itself as a football powerhouse. The 2010 World Cup, held in South Africa and the politics surrounding the choice, serves as evidence of this fact. Yet, as football’s foothold has grown in the continent, so has Africa’s foothold on the sport outside the continent grown.
The quote above is evidence embodies this idea. France and Belgium, two European teams, had been dubbed “African teams” by the media in the follow-up to the 2018 World Cup – hosted by Russia. This was, and is, due to the prominence of Afro-European players on their teams – players of African descent born in the European countries for which they now wear the flag for on their chests, playing on the international stage.
These players, such as Romelu Lukaku for Belgium and Mamadou Sakho for France, stand out against the expectations of players from their countries – white skinned, light haired Europeans. Yet, these players are no less European than their counterparts, no less French than the French, no less Belgian than the Belgian. They were born in their nations, bear the flag of their nations, and represent their nations at the global stage, giving their all to win the game for their nation. Players of African descent, like Lukaku and Sakho, are often star players of their teams.
Star players of African descent, playing for nations who do not accept their ethnicities and identities, is not new in footballing history. One cannot forget Afro-Brazilian players like Pelé, Garrincha, and Leônidas da Silva or Afro-Uruguayan players such as José Andrade, Isabelino Gradín, and Juan Delgado (additional information about these players can be found in The World Cup as World History). These players, like many Afro-European players playing for European teams, face racially-motivated insults and threats while playing for the country they call home.
It’s, in a sense poetic, how European nations have found themselves “saved” in the realm of football by players from nations which they once colonized. France, a nation known for it’s harsh stances on diversity – take, for example, the bans on abayas and other religious coverings – has found itself relying on players from ethnically diverse backgrounds to propel it’s national football team. Yet, it seems no matter how hard these players fight for their countries (I’m thinking about Mbappé’s successes for France in 2018 here) they find themselves in a grey-zone – not white enough for the place they call home.
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