“An African nation will win the World Cup before the year 2000” - Pelé
While Pelé’s predictive skills will never match his footballing prowess, there
is no doubting that African footballers have made a huge impact on the world
game at club level. Europe, with all the financial and lifestyle rewards it
has to offer, is usually the destination of choice, with probably the
Barclays Premier League at the top of the list. But Cambodia? African
footballers in Cambodia?
Samuel, Linford and Kenneth are proof that football has no boundaries and that
Africans have no limits, even where there is no money or market for them.
They are united by the same story. Not one of them wanted to come to
Cambodia, not one of them wants to be there and all three of them have been
pretty much abandoned by the agent who got them there. They would all like
to leave, but they make such little money that they cannot afford to.
When I met these three in Phnom Penh, Samuel, Linford and Kenneth were as
intrigued as I. “Could I help them?” they asked. “Could I help get them a
club in Europe? Or at least a trial?” And a few days later, this continued
over e-mail. Any news? Could I help?
And I, in turn, wondered: what are you boys doing here? Why? And how did you
get here? These are their stories, none of which has an ending and won’t
have until they finally find a way out.
Kenneth Akpueze. Midfield player, Nigerian, 21
“I flew from Nigeria to India. I was en route to Australia. An agent in
Nigeria had said that he would take me there to play: a good club, good
money, everything. But in India, I couldn’t get an Australian visa. I stayed
one month in Delhi in a hotel.
So I called the agent and he said that he had a friend in Cambodia and that I
had to come here to meet him, that they played very good football here and
that maybe I could make decent money here. I said: ‘OK.’ I didn’t have any
alternative. I bought my Cambodia ticket and I met the friend here, but he
didn’t know anything about football, didn’t even know if they played
football here.
“I stayed here three or four months before I got a trial with a club and now I
am here with Phnom Penh Empire. I never heard from my manager in Nigeria
again. I am paid $250 a month here, that hardly takes me through half of the
month. But I cannot return home. Africans never go home empty-handed. I
cannot go home without making any money and I have to do something to take
care of my family. If I go home now, my brother will ask: ‘How about my
money?’ It was my brother who paid for my ticket here.
“Even now, my family back home are expecting money. They call me: ‘You have to
send money.’ My younger brother rang recently, saying that my sister is very
unwell and that I have to send money for her to go to a hospital. But I
don’t have any money.
“So I’d like to move. Anywhere would be better than Cambodia. I am planning to
go to Singapore to play. I’d love to go to Europe, but nobody sees you in
Cambodia. No one sees Cambodian football on TV, no agents come here - so how
would anyone see us?”
Linford Bernard. Defender, Ghanaian, 26
“I left Ghana on January 19, 2006. I was meant to go to Thailand to play, I
was never meant to come here and now I am stuck.
“The problem is money. My money runs out before the end of the month and yet
my family at home expect me to send money to them. If I don’t send money, I
am nothing. If I don’t send money, I cannot say anything to explain myself.
So I have to go to my manager here and borrow money from him. At the end of
every month, I say: ‘I am never borrowing money again.’ But I always have
to.
“When I was in Ghana, I had my own car. Selling the car helped pay for me to
come here. If I go back, I won’t have money or a car and people will say:
‘Why did you leave?’
“My sister and my agent in Ghana gave me some money to buy my ticket. I had an
invitation from a team in Bangkok but I had a problem on my way. In Ghana we
don’t have a Thai embassy so I was supposed to stop in Egypt to get a visa.
But at Cairo airport, I made a mistake. Instead of going to arrivals, I went
to transit. They ended up holding my passport. They told me I could get a
Thai visa in Thailand and put me on a flight. When I arrived in Thailand –
with no visa – the woman at immigration said: ‘You have no arrival visa.’
And that evening they put me on a flight back to Cairo.
“So by the time I had got back to Cairo, I had already used my return ticket
to Thailand. So I called back to my manager at home in Ghana and he told me
to wait while they sent me some money. I spent a month in a hotel in Cairo
waiting.
“Eventually, the ticket arrived. I’d already asked my manager whether I should
still go, because the trial period at the Thai club had passed. He said I
should still go. So I went and the club said that the trials were over and I
should wait for next year. I managed to find another small club instead,
Thamron Thai FC, where I played and trained the junior team as well.
“The man there, Mr Sumet, promised to pay me $500 a month but later said that
unless I have my international football registration from Ghana, he could
only pay me $250. He said that when the registration comes, he would pay the
extra. So I rang home, but when the registration eventually came, Mr Sumet
told me that because it was so delayed, he wouldn’t pay. That was when I
decided I wanted to go. I demanded my money, but he said that he knew that
my Thai visa had run out, that he wouldn’t pay me and that he would tell the
police that I had outstayed my visa. So I chose to come to Cambodia.
You can get here by bus. That was November 2006. On arrival here, my friend
suggested we try football in Vietnam. That didn’t work and so we came back
here.
“I then thought I’d renew my Thai visa here in Cambodia and then return there;
I’d played enough football there that it would be easy for me to get a club.
But the Thai embassy said that because I had overstayed my time there, they
would not renew my visa for six months.
“At that stage I was crazy, I didn’t know what to do and I didn’t have any
money. I was staying in a mission house.
When I called my manager in Ghana to ask for help, his brother answered and
said that he was in Italy. He said I should wait to see what his brother
could do for me.
“During that time, the coach of Phnom Penh Empire saw me and invited me to
join him. And that is why I am here.
“I would never advise any African to come here to Asia. Only to Korea or
Japan. Singapore is OK. I want to go to Europe. We are only playing here in
order to go to play somewhere better.
“I did speak to my manager last week and I said: ‘I will never achieve
anything here.’ He said I’d only be here for another month and that he was
trying to get an invitation for me to get a trial in Europe.
“I pray to God that when I have gone, I never have to come back.”
Samuel Gbenga. Striker, Nigerian, 20
“It was almost two years ago that I arrived in Singapore for a trial with a
club there. My manager was supposed to meet me, but he wasn’t there and when
I called, he said: ‘Sorry, I am in London for an appointment.’ I was going
for a trial in Singapore. They then gave me such a short visa that I didn’t
have time for the trial.
“I went to Vietnam instead; I had a friend who played there. I got a
three-month visa for Vietnam and tried out for some clubs but everyone told
me I was too short. So another friend in Cambodia invited me down here and
I’ve been here ever since.
“The problem is money. The salary is too small. I have people at home
expecting much from me: my parents, my friends. My father paid for my ticket
and he is expecting that money back and some extra too.
“So we are playing here purely in the hope that someone will spot us so
we can move forward in our careers. I want to go anywhere else but I would
love to play in Singapore; I have had an invitation to go there but my club
blocked the contact. My club never told me, it was only much later that I
found out.”
Fields of dreams
African footballers in the Premier League
Arsenal (4) Kolo Touré (Ivory Coast), Emmanuel Eboué (Ivory Coast),
Alexandre Song Billong (Cameroon), Emmanuel Adebayor (Togo). Aston Villa (1)
Moustapha Salifou (Togo).
Birmingham City (4) Mehdi Nafti (Tunisia), Richard Kingson (Ghana),
Radhi Jaïdi (Tunisia), Olivier Tébily (Ivory Coast).
Blackburn Rovers (3) Christopher Samba (Congo), Benni McCarthy (South
Africa), Aaron Mokoena (South Africa).
Bolton Wanderers (2) Abdoulaye Méïté (Ivory Coast), El-Hadji Diouf
(Senegal).
Chelsea (4) Michael Essien (Ghana), Didier Drogba (Ivory Coast),
Salomon Kalou (Ivory Coast), John Obi Mikel (Nigeria).
Derby County (1) Mohammed Camara (Guinea).
Everton (4) Joseph Yobo (Nigeria), Steven Pienaar (South Africa; on
loan form Borussia Dortmund), Yakubu Ayegbeni (Nigeria), Victor Anichebe
(Nigeria).
Fulham (3) Diomansy Kamara (Senegal), Hameur Bouazza (Algeria), Gabriel
Zakuani (DR Congo; on loan at Stoke City).
Liverpool (2) Mohamed Sissoko (Mali), Nabil El Zhar (Morocco).
Manchester City (1) Kelvin Etuhu (Nigeria).
Manchester United (0)
Middlesbrough (2) Ahmed Mido (Egypt), Mohamed Shawky (Egypt).
Newcastle United (7) Obafemi Martins (Nigeria), Celestine Babayaro
(Nigeria), Gérémi (Cameroon), Habib Beye (Senegal), Abdoulaye Faye
(Senegal), Matty Patison (South Africa), Kazenga LuaLua (DR Congo).
Portsmouth (8) Lauren (Cameroon), Berlin Ndebe-Nlome (Cameroon), Djimi
Traoré (Mali), Papa Bouba Diop (Senegal), Sulley Muntari (Ghana), John Utaka
(Nigeria), Kanu (Nigeria), Benjani Mwaruwari (Zimbabwe).
Reading (4) Ibrahima Sonko (Senegal), Emerse Faé (Ivory Coast), André
Bikey (Cameroon), Sam Sodje (Nigeria; on loan at Charlton Athletic).
Sunderland (1) Dickson Etuhu (Nigeria).
Tottenham Hotspur (3) Didier Zokora (Ivory Coast), Benoît Assou-Ekotto
(Cameroon), Hossam Ghaly (Egypt).
West Ham United (2) John Paintsil (Ghana), Henri Camara (Senegal; on
loan from Wigan Athletic).
Wigan Athletic (2) Julius Aghahowa (Nigeria), Salomon Olembé
(Cameroon).
Total: 58 (from 16 different nations). 12 Nigeria; 8 Ivory Coast; 7
Cameroon, Senegal; 4 Ghana, South Africa; 3 Egypt; 2 Democratic Republic of
Congo, Mali, Togo, Tunisia; 1 Algeria, Congo, Guinea, Morocco, Zimbabwe.
Words by Gerard Meagher
I think the Problem is with the Managers who promise them heaven on earth and then leave the players to their own fate when trouble looms around.
Nesta Bruce-Nanakeain, Accra, ghana
So, why does Manchester United have no (0) African players? Is it by accident or by design?
Alsace, New York, USA
These Africans are so pity that i hope some football teams in Europe will help them.
Sato, Tokyo, Japan