African Footballers’ Migration to Europe: Shifting Perspectives and Practices

This chapter examines the ways that the migration of African footballers to Europe corresponded with African players’ shifting perceptions regarding this opportunity and the development of the European football (soccer) labor market since the 1980s. By exploring how these patterns and perceptions have changed over time, we can better contextualize the migration processes and strategies of African players in their pursuit of a professional football career in Europe. Since the 1980s, shifts in African societies’ perceptions of football, African football structures, and the European football labor market have changed the ways that Africans engage in this form of migration. In order to reconstruct these shifts in perspective, approach, and practice, we conducted dozens of interviews with current and former African professional footballers, which enabled us to identify key changes across three distinct periods: the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s. We argue that over these three decades, shifting perspectives about the professional opportunities available in Europe powerfully shaped the ways that Africans engaged with football and, ultimately, pursued careers in the sport.