Yet what happens to the majority of African players, how do their trajectories evolve after a playing career? Indeed, if Black footballers account for 30% of the players in the English Premier League but only 1% of the managers, the structural exclusion of Black players is obvious.Ĭertainly, coaching positions in professional European football are limited and the competition is high. Recently, player Raheem Sterling and academic Paul Campbell have pointed to the structural inequalities that prevent former Black players from embarking on coaching or administrative positions in European football. Given the impact of African players in European football, this is remarkable and certainly a waste of coaching talent for the European football industry.įor every Drogba there are hundreds of West African football hopefuls who struggle Instead, former African footballers have become coaches or, player agents, or are otherwise occupied in the football industry only after returning to Africa, even if their initial plan was to stay in Europe and pursue their post-playing livelihoods there. More recently, the former Nigerian international Ndubuisi Egbo won the Albanian league title with FK Tirana in the 2019/20 season, while Mbaye Leye, a former Senegalese international, was appointed Standard Liège’s new head coach in December 2020. There’s also Michael Emenalo from Nigeria who served as technical director for FC Chelsea and AS Monaco after having played for various teams in the US, Europe and Israel. Among the most prominent are Mário Wilson from Mozambique who played most of his career in Portugal and coached SL Benfica to win the Portuguese championship in 1976. ![]() ![]() ![]() First of all, only a few African migrant players remain in the game as coaches or in administrative positions in European football.
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