A World At Their Feet: African Soccer During the Cold War

When Zaire qualified for the 1974 World Cup, the country’s dictator, Joseph Desire-Mobutu, gifted his players cars and houses.  Mobutu took power in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 1965 after staging multiple coups, the first one notably usurping Patrice Lumumba, which ultimately led to his execution in early 1961. Over the next three decades, Mobutu ran a kleptocratic dictatorship indelibly linked to his cult of personality. He changed the DRC’s name to “Zaire,” urged its citizens (including himself) to change their Western names to indigenous ones, and used soccer to bring prestige to the country. Mobutu was thrilled when his country qualified for the 1974 World Cup, which was supposed to be the defining moment in the country’s sporting history. But the World Cup did not go to plan. Unfilled payments, threats, and protests led to Zaire’s 1974 World Cup campaign being marked by mystery and intrigue, highlighted by the infamous moment of Mwepu Ilunga kicking the ball away before a Brazilian free kick.

In its first decade as an independent country, Ghana won two African Cup of Nations and solidified itself as the dominant soccer team on the continent. After achieving independence from England in 1957, Ghana’s charismatic Prime Minister, Kwame Nkrumah, hoped to create a unified Ghanaian identity while also pursuing his loftier vision of unifying Africa under the banner of Pan-Africanism. Nkrumah turned to soccer, in part, to achieve both goals, investing extensively in Ghana’s national team, known as the Black Stars, and building up the domestic game. But as Kwame Nkrumah, a committed socialist, navigated the contentious atmosphere of the Cold War, anti-socialist powers in the West criticized and undermined his rule. Paranoid (though rightly so), Nkrumah responded with increased authoritarianism, even as he attempted to leverage soccer to hold together a fractured nation. While soccer could strengthen national identity and continental collaboration, it also contributed to significant discontent among some ethnic groups, and eventually, the fall of one of history’s most complex leaders. 

In April 1958, a group of talented Algerian soccer players who played in France, including Rachid Mehkloufi, Mustapha Zitouni, and Abdelaziz Ben Tifour, shocked the world by defecting from France overnight and flying to Tunis. There, they created the FLN Football Team. Algeria, France’s most prized colony, was under French dominion for more than 120 years before a group of Algerian militants known as the Front de Libération Nationale (FLN) began an armed struggle against their colonizers in late 1954. Brutal violence defined the first years of the Algerian War of Independence, with decisive battles being fought both in the countryside and Algeria’s largest cities, including the infamous Battle of Algiers (1956-1957). The FLN Football Team toured East Asia, Eastern Europe, and the Middle East to raise awareness of the Algerian cause to adoring, soccer-crazy audiences. The team met with political leaders such as the Iraqi Prime Minister, Abdul Karim Qassim, and Vietnam’s president and legendary revolutionary leader, Ho Chi Minh, while also playing in front of thousands of fans across the world. Ultimately, the FLN Football Team helped Algeria achieve its independence in 1962.

Welcome to A World At Their Feet: a podcast about African soccer during the Cold War. Over three body episodes and one concluding episode, host Evan Atchison covers the extraordinary stories of four African countries that navigated independence, geopolitics, domestic turmoil, dictatorship, and second-class citizenship over the 45-year period known as the Cold War. Soccer was a crucial institution for resistance, social mobility, and achieving political goals. At the same time, the sport could be subversive, contributing to both the rise and fall of authoritarian regimes. I utilize both primary source research from Ghanaian and South African newspaper archives, Gale’s decolonization archive, and match footage. I also rely on the work of a variety of scholars, including Peter Alegi, Paul Darby, Paul Dietschy, Ken Bediako, Laurent Dubois, Martin Evans, Mahfoud Amara, Youcef Boundel, Malcolm MacLean, Matthew Connelly, Natalya Vince, Pierre Lanfranchi, Alexis Tadie, Nicolas Bancel, Meshack Owino, Sifosi Mxolisi Ndlovu, Samuel M. Clevenger, David Rooney, Kwame Dankwa, Eric Quaidoo, Conner Heffernan, Bangela Lema, Jeroen Van Den Bosch, Tamba Nlundu, and Peter Vale.