For Young Africans, a Career in Football is Becoming Attractive.

The African cup of nations got underway a few days ago. This is the season when African teams compete for the ultimate continental glory. However, how can African teams perform better and become champions in the global stage. There is no doubt that there is plenty of soccer talent in Africa. One need only look at the English Premier League, or La Lige, Bundesliga, and Seria A to realise the breadth of talent in the continent. However, this talent hasn't translated to trophies for African teams. How can African teams improve their quality of soccer?

One, talent development from a very early age has to be looked into. We must endeavor to identify the best African brains from early on, give them the necessary support, and see them develop in every possible way. While there is no doubt a number of African countries that have talent academies, the number is not enough. What's more, the talent academies are run mostly by foreign agents, who go on to make tonnes of money in the process. Tied to the establishment of talent academies is to ensure that there are enough structures to ensure that this young talent graduates up to the senior level. There have been disputes between the sports federations and the ministry of sports in various African countries, and this has led to a continuous lowering of the standards of soccer in the country.

Tied to this, the sports personalities must be paid well. Yaya Toure of Ivory Coast could make enough money to run his country's football federation, showing just how little players back home are paid. What if more Africa's rich could begin investing in soccer? Then we could have football clubs that are rich and able
to pay players substantially better salaries. In 1990, Brazilian soccer legend said that an African country would have lifted the world cup by the turn of the century. That was the year Cameroon had reached the quater-finals. We were still at the same place in 2010, and in 2014, only Algeria managed to reach the second round of the competition. This really is a sickening statistic, and one would hope that soccer authorities in the continent pulled up their socks.