Africa is blessed and that’s unarguable, but its inadequate resources have continued to limit its growth.
Like other sectors, sports is one of Africa’s greatest qualities. Blessed with some of the finest sportsmen in the world, the continent has generations of talents who need just a little tutelage to take the world by storm.
In 2020 alone, three teenage African youngsters, the oldest being 18, sent tongues wagging in praise, yet none represents an African nation.
The trio of Ansu Fati, Eduardo Camavinga and Youssouffa Moukoko were all born in the continent but will be singing the anthems of their new countries when football games come up.
Fati, 18, took the Spanish La Liga by storm when he showed techniques and application that were beyond his age and level. He jumped developmental stages to team up with the first team and he quickly impressed his coaches and teammates. Fati has since become Barcelona, Spain and La Liga’s youngest goalscorer. He now wears the La Roja red jersey.
While the young attacker had his developmental years in Seville, Spain, he was born and partly raised in Guinea Bissau before his parents moved to Spain after his brother won a football scholarship. His stock has quickly risen and has been rated as one of the best youngsters in football.
Camavinga, also 18, was born in an Angolan refugee camp to Congolese parents. Heads and shoulders above his peers, his excellent reading of the game, passing and technical brilliance have stood him out as one of the best young midfielders in the world. The Rennes midfielder has since made his debut for the French national team and is a subject of interest amongst the biggest clubs in the world. He moved to France at the age of 2.
When Youssouffa Moukoko hit the scene at 14, he was already too much for players older than he was. He stole the headlines so much that the German Football Federation had to stop him from playing age-grade matches.
At 16, Moukoko, born in Yaoundé, the Cameroonian capital, became the youngest goalscorer in the history of the German Bundesliga when he scored Borussia Dortmund’s only goal in a 2-1 loss to Union Berlin on Friday.
Moukoko already has a €10m kit sponsorship deal with Nike and a German national team call-up is well on the cards.
Africa has a rich base of talents and must provide enough to make them grow and rise from within.
Like Moukoko, Fati and Camavinga, thousands are still on the dusty pitches of the continent, ready to take the world by storm, in various ways, across all human endeavours.