Africa: Drogba, Eto'o - Why African Dictators Fear Football

5 February 2008
column

Three days ago, I sat in my Paris hotel room watching Ivory Coast maul Guinea in the Africa Cup of Nations. How much the world has changed, I thought. This was virtually impossible 20 years ago.

Ten years ago you would get the occasional Africa Cup of Nations game on European screens. Today it's all over the place. One reason is that the army of African players like Didier Drogba at Chelsea, and Samuel Eto'o at Barcelona FC are so big with their European clubs, the hordes of their European fans will follow them wherever they play. It makes commercial sense, therefore, to air the Africa Cup of Nations tournament.

...

Tagged:

AllAfrica publishes around 400 reports a day from more than 100 news organizations and over 500 other institutions and individuals, representing a diversity of positions on every topic. We publish news and views ranging from vigorous opponents of governments to government publications and spokespersons. Publishers named above each report are responsible for their own content, which AllAfrica does not have the legal right to edit or correct.

Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica. To address comments or complaints, please Contact us.