Spotlight on diaspora players as African teams prepare for the World Cup

As Africa’s five representatives at this year’s Fifa World Cup in Qatar step up their preparations for the 22nd edition of the tournament, the spotlight has fallen on the recruitment of players from the diaspora, particularly those born in Europe, who could strengthen the respective teams.

Before the 2018 tournament in Russia, Morocco and Tunisia went on a serious recruitment drive with the Atlas Lions in particular managing to convince players born in Spain, France, the Netherlands and Belgium to commit to the country where their parents or grandparents were born.

In fact, 17 of the 23-man Moroccan squad that went to the last World Cup were born in Europe while Tunisia also managed to convince several France-born players, all products of that country’s youth development system, to represent the Carthage Eagles. They previously had the Brazilians Jose Clayton and Francileudo dos Santos wearing their national colours when they won the Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) on home soil in 2004.

The success of Morocco’s entreaties followed that of North African neighbours Algeria who took winners Germany to extra time in the second round of the 2014 World Cup with a squad that had 15 of the 23 on their roster born in France.

The window for countries, mainly African, to entice foreign-born players into their ranks was opened even further in September 2020 when Fifa changed eligibility rules, allowing players to switch allegiance if they have played no more than three competitive matches at senior level before turning 21.

Appearances in World Cup finals matches or continental finals such as the European Championships or Afcon prohibit a change of eligibility.

While it has previously been the North African countries, who are only separated from Europe by the Mediterranean Sea, who have been scouring the continent for talent, this time it’s Ghana that’s hoping to bolster their ranks ahead of the World Cup. The country’s FA have embarked on a huge charm offensive as they seek to field a team they believe would be strong enough to compete in a tough group that includes Portugal, South Korea and Uruguay.

The players from the diaspora would undoubtedly strengthen the respective African teams but is it fair on those who did the hard yards during what was a tough qualifying campaign?

The big test of the players’ commitment to the cause will come after the World Cup when the qualifiers for the 2023 Afcon resume next March. Will those players be prepared to make the journeys to countries like the Central African Republic, Madagascar, Angola or Mali or will they be shown up as opportunists like German-born Kevin Prince-Boateng who was hardly available for the Black Stars after donning their shirt at the 2010 and 2014 World Cups?

Ghana’s recruitment campaign has been greatly aided by former Brighton and Newcastle manager Chris Hughton, who was appointed technical adviser for the World Cup campaign in February, and German-born coach Otto Addo, who is continuing his job on the technical staff at Bundesliga side Borussia Dortmund.

The pair have already managed to convince Brighton defender Tariq Lamptey and Athletic Bilbao striker Inaki Williams to switch allegiance from England and Spain respectively. Williams made a single appearance for Spain in 2016 while Lamptey represented England at under-21 level.

In addition, three Germanborn players Stephen Ambrosius, Ransford-Yeboah Konigsdorffer and Patric Pfeiffer

have also pledged their allegiance to the Black Stars who are also hoping to convince Chelsea attacker Callum Hudson-Odoi and Arsenal’s Eddie Nketia to commit.

Southampton defender Mohammed Salisu, who was born in Ghana, has now also made himself available for selection after previously turning down call-ups from his country.

The decision by the Ghana FA to recruit diaspora players has met some backlash from Black Stars fans who are worried that the trend could disturb the harmony of the squad as the newcomers are seen as opportunists who are simply exploiting the gap offered to them to play at the World Cup.

Addo has claimed it has not been easy to convince the dual-nationality players to commit to playing for the West African country but surely the lure of playing on the big stage provided by the World Cup would have played a big role in their decision to switch allegiance.

Would they have committed to playing at the Afcon or in the World Cup qualifiers?

While Ghana could be fielding a vastly changed team in Qatar from the one that qualified for the World Cup, Cameroon are also embarking on the same path, though not with the same vigour. The 1990 World Cup quarterfinalists have managed to convince Brentford forward Brian Mbuemo, a former France under-20 and under-21 international, to make the switch.

The Indomitable Lions are also still hopeful of getting Liverpool’s star defender Joel Matip to change his mind after quitting the national team in 2015.

The German-born Matip who complained about bad experiences with the team’s technical staff during their Afcon qualifier against Gambia, has turned down all subsequent advances to change his mind though an appearance at the World Cup might be too tempting to turn down for the 31-year-old.*