AFCON giant killers force Zim to introspect
IN an article published on Thursday titled “How Mauritania used FIFA Goal Project funds to become giant killers”, The Guardian newspaper of Nigeria extensively chronicles the massive football transformation in that country.
Despite being one of the underdogs at the ongoing Africa Cup of Nations, Mauritania shocked many football followers across the continent when they eliminated two-time champions Algeria from the competition last week. After going down to Burkina Faso and Angola in their opening matches in Group D, Mauritania claimed a historic 1-0 win over Algeria that also secured them a place in the round of 16 as one of the best third-placed teams.
That victory was Mauritania’s first-ever at the AFCON finals. They also booked a knockout berth for the first time in their history.
“A country largely covered by desert, Mauritania lies northwest of Africa with a population of about four million people.
“For 18 years, between 1995-2003, Mauritania
never won a single football match. And in 2010, the country withdrew from the AFCON qualifiers enroute to Angola 2010 due to financial crisis,” wrote The Guardian.
In 2011, Mauritania were ranked 207th by FIFA and were one of the poorest football countries in the world.
However, their fortunes started to change for the better following the election of Ahmed Yahya as FA president.
“Determined to succeed, the FA boss, Yahya, set up Mauritania youth teams and got the country’s biggest company, Telcom, to sponsor their league. He also fixed players’ salaries to ensure they stayed focused on football alone.”
Yahya’s most notable contribution to the evolution of football in Mauritania was using a 10-million euro FIFA Goal Projects fund for its intended purpose.
He renovated the country’s national stadium, built an ultra-modern FA headquarters and also established a training complex with hotel rooms, where he housed the country’s Under-15 team and started a youth development programme, “which opened the floodgates of success for the country”.
After visiting the facilities in November 2023, the President of Mauritania, Mohamed Ould Ghazouani, told African Business: “In Mauritania, we had the foresight to use the (FIFA) Forward fund wisely because we had a vision.”
In one of his tours in Africa, FIFA president Gianni Infantino hailed Mauritania as one of the few African countries with proper accountability of the FIFA funds.
In 2019, Mauritania qualified for their first AFCON in Egypt and also repeated the same feat two years later with a squad comprising some of the youth players developed from 2015.
Giant killers
Mauritania are not the only country causing shock waves at the ongoing 34th AFCON finals, which will certainly be remembered for the giant-killing acts by nations that were previously regarded as minnows.
Equatorial Guinea, who are ranked 18th on the continent, walloped hosts and Africa’s eighth-best team Cote d’Ivoire 4-0 in a Group A match. They also held Nigeria and beat Guinea Bissau to top the group.
Angola, who are rated 28th on the continent, also topped Group D, which included 2019 AFCON champions Algeria, Burkina Faso and Mauritania. Namibia similarly booked a first-ever knockout place since their debut in 1998, as they qualified as one of the thirdbest teams from Group E, ahead of fading North African giants Tunisia.
Cape Verde, who are one of the smallest nations on the continent, with a population of just under 600 000, have also reached the last 16. They have done it using foreign-based players. In fact, their squad has players who were born in six different countries, including France, the Netherlands, Portugal, Switzerland and Ireland.
“Cape Verde has a huge diaspora,” defender Roberto Lopes, who was born and raised in Dublin, told The Athletic just before the Africa
Cup of Nations finals.
Lopes played for Ireland Under-18 before committing to Cape Verde. Angola also have a strong diaspora influence in their squad as some of their players were born and raised in Portugal.
Introspection
The shocks at AFCON have touched off animated discussions on the state of the local game. Despite producing star players over the years, including Bruce Grobbelaar, Moses Chunga, Peter Ndlovu, Knowledge Musona, Khama Billiat, Norman Mapeza, Joel Shambo and Stanley Ndunduma (both late), Marvelous Nakamba and Marshall Munetsi, Zimbabwe have never progressed beyond the group stage at the AFCON finals.
Without a cohesive youth development system, Zimbabwe are lagging behind in terms of production and nurturing football stars.
Allegations of misuse of FIFA grants are rampant in a country, where successive ZIFA leaders have often been found wanting.
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