Young Africans supporting European clubs: the case of football fans from Accra, Ghana

Abstract

The massive following that European soccer leagues enjoy in Africa, especially among urban youth, is an aspect of African youth cultures that scholarship has not adequately addressed. This paper explores the phenomenon and its implications for young people’s everyday identity politics, by focusing on how African popular cultures draw on global cultural trends to appeal to urban youth in local settings across the continent. Specifically, what is being analysed is how young people engage with global modernity by projecting their aspirations and desires through the fortunes of their adopted European soccer teams. Using the questionnaire interview method, I talked to nine Ghanaian youths living in Accra, Ghana’s capital, where there currently exists a vibrant youth support movement for foreign clubs. Findings from the interviews reveal that the glamour of European leagues trigger issues of identity, belonging, and politics among young Africans. While some consider their involvement in European leagues as an escape and a powerful protest to the comparatively unattractive soccer landscape on the continent, others perceive it as an expression of their global citizenship and belonging. Recognizing the enjoyment that young people elicit from the European soccer craze, the article argues that not only does the entertainment value of foreign soccer ‘absolve’ youth of their allegiance to foreign interests, but it also provides a powerful cultural avenue for them to vicariously participate in a modernity whose privileges they cannot access locally.