Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Soccer in Senegal: National Identity, Commercialization, and Acquisition of Wealth

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Football (Soccer) in Africa

Part of the book series: Global Culture and Sport Series ((GCS))

  • 250 Accesses

Abstract

With a long history dating as far back as the early colonial period, soccer or football is by far the most popular sport in Senegal today. Senegalese soccer reached its peak when the national team, Les Lions de la Teranga (The Lions of Hospitality), qualified for the FIFA World Cup of 2002 and defeated the former colonial power, France, in the opening match of the tournament hosted by South Korea and Japan. Under a French manager, Bruno Metsu (1954–2013), Les Lions advanced to the quarterfinal stage of the tournament (one of only three African countries, together with Cameroon and Ghana, to have done so). Until Les Lions qualified again for the 2018 World Cup hosted by Russia, however, Senegalese soccer had experienced a checkered phase since its glorious adventure at the 2002 tournament. Since then, Les Lions have performed better and reached the final of the Africa Cup of Nations competition organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) and hosted by Egypt in 2019. Despite losing to Algeria by a single goal, Les Lions reaffirmed their credentials as one of Africa’s best soccer teams. And nowadays in Senegal it is common for various private and corporate commercial enterprises to compete for sponsorship of soccer, expecting to attract its increasing fan base to their products and services. Through the lens of soccer, this chapter engages broader issues about the intersection of national identity/nationalism and sports, the commercialization of sports, the media and its impact on spectatorship, and the lure of sports vis-à-vis poverty and acquisition of wealth in West Africa. Thus, it argues that sports, in this case soccer, offers a path to illuminate disparities in political, social, and economic capital that exist between various groups in Senegalese society.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 129.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    Emmanuel Akyeampong and Charles Ambler, “Leisure in African History: An Introduction,” The International Journal of African Historical Studies 35, No. 1 (2002), 1–16; Martha Saavreda, “Football Feminine – Development of the African Game: Senegal, Nigeria and South Africa,” Soccer & Society 4, Issue 2–3 (2003), 225–253. https://doi.org/10.1080/14660970512331390925; Jeroen Schokkaert, “Football Clubs’ Recruitment Strategies and International Player Migration: Evidence from Senegal and South Africa,” Soccer & Society 17, Issue 1 (2016), 120–139. https://doi.org/10.1080/14660970.2014.919271.

  2. 2.

    C. W. Newbury and A. S. Kanya-Forstner, “French Policy and the Origins of the Scramble for West Africa,” The Journal of African History 10, No. 2 (April 1969), 253–276; Christopher Harrison, France and Islam in West Africa, 1860–1960 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988); A. S. Kanya-Forstner, The Conquest of the Western Sudan: A Study of French Military Imperialism (London: Cambridge University Press, 1969).

  3. 3.

    For more on Islam and Christianity in Senegal and West Africa generally, see, among others, Paul Gifford, “Religion in Contemporary Senegal,” Journal of Contemporary Religion 31, No. 2 (2016), 255–267; Mamadou Diouf, ed., Tolerance, Democracy, and Sufis in Senegal (New York: Columbia University Press, 2013); Lamin Sanneh, Piety and Power: Muslims and Christians in West Africa (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1996); Benjamin F. Soares, ed., Muslim-Christian Encounters in Africa (Leiden: Brill, 2006); David Robinson, Muslim Societies in African History (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004).

  4. 4.

    Cathal Kilcline, Sport and Society in Global France: Nations, Migrations, Corporations (Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 2019); Manase Kudzai Chiweshe, “Commercialization of Football in Africa: Prospects, Challenges, and Experiences,” in Michael J. Gennaro and Saheed Aderinto, eds., Sports in African History, Politics, and Identity Formation (New York, NY: Routledge, 2019), 206–219.

  5. 5.

    Beth Buggenhagen, Muslim Families in Global Senegal: Money Takes care of Shame (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2012). On the theme of globalization and its impact on small communities in West Africa, see Charles Piot, Remotely Global: Village Modernity in West Africa (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1999).

  6. 6.

    Peter Alegi, African Soccerscapes: How a Continent Changed the World’s Game (Athens: Ohio University Press, 2010), 3.

  7. 7.

    Ibid., 4.

  8. 8.

    Alegi, African Soccerscapes; Bernadette Deville-Danthu, Le sport en noir et blanc: Du sport colonial au sport africain dans les anciens territoires français d’Afrique occidentale, 1920–1965 (Paris: Harmattan, 1997); Phyllis Martin, Leisure and Society in Colonial Brazzaville (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995).

  9. 9.

    Ibid.

  10. 10.

    Susann Baller, “Urban Football Performances: Playing for the Neighborhood in Senegal, 1950s–2000s,” Africa: The Journal of the International African Institute 84, No. 1 (February 2014), 17–35; see also Tamba E. M’bayo, “The Politics of Football in Post-colonial Sierra Leone,” in Brenda Elsey and Stanislao G. Pugliese, eds., Football and the Boundaries of History: Critical Studies in Soccer (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2017), 267–293.

  11. 11.

    Alegi, African Soccerscapes.

  12. 12.

    Ibid, 44.

  13. 13.

    Mark Hann, “Why African Fans Love European Football: A Senegalese Perspective,” The Conversation (July 2, 2017), 4. http://theconversation.com/why-african-fans-love-european-football-a-senegalese-perspective-79856 (Accessed May 23, 2018).

  14. 14.

    Baller, “Urban Football Performances,” 17–19. When the navétanes organization faded it was not until the late 1980s and early 1990s that is autonomy as an independent association was recognized by the Senegalese Ministry of Interior. Then, in 2008, the association between an affiliate of the Federation Senegalaise de Football (FSF), which was founded in 1960. The federation has been affiliated with FIFA since 1962; and it has been a member of CAF since 1963.

  15. 15.

    Deville-Danthu, Le sport en noir et blanc, 250–251.

  16. 16.

    Richard J. Peltz-Steele, “The Sportswriter as Development Journalist: Covering African Football,” Ecquid Novi: African Journalism Studies 31, No. 2 (2010), 149–173.

  17. 17.

    Senegal and The French Sudan gained independence simultaneously on April 4, 1960, as the Federation of Mali. However, the two former colonies decided to form independent nations four months later, and on August 19, the Federation dissolved and Senegal became a separate country on August 20.

  18. 18.

    Hann, “Why African Fans Love European Football,” 4.

  19. 19.

    Jeff Bradley, “The Rise of African Soccer,” ESPN 2010 World Cup Guide (May, 2010), 32–35; Alegi, African Soccerscapes; Laurent Dubois, Soccer Empire: The World Cup and the Future of France (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 2010).

  20. 20.

    Paul Doyle, “Bruno Metsu: The Man who inspired Senegal and all of Africa in 2002,” The Guardian (October 16, 2013). https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2013/oct/16/bruno-metsu-senegal-africa-2002 (Accessed May 26, 2018).

  21. 21.

    Dakar-Matin, August 21, 1964, cited in Baller, “Urban Football Performances,” 21.

  22. 22.

    Balller, “Urban Football Performances,” 19–27.

  23. 23.

    Ibid., 23.

  24. 24.

    For more on the student uprisings, see A. Bathily, Mai 68 à Dakar ou la révolte universitaire et la démocratie (Paris: Chaka, 1992).

  25. 25.

    BBC Sport, “Senegalese Federation Plans Tribute for Bocande” (May 8, 2012) https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/17991406 (Accessed July 7, 2018).

  26. 26.

    Between 2006 and 2010, Viera also won four Serie A titles with Inter Milan in Italy. Currently, he is the team manager of Crystal Palace in the English Premier League. See Matthew Taylor, “Global Players? Football, Migration and Globalization, c. 1930–2000,” Historical Social Research 31, No. 1 (115) (2006), 7–30.

  27. 27.

    John Williams, “The Local and the Global in English Soccer and the Rise of Satellite Television,” Sociology of Sport Journal 11, Issue 4 (December 1994), 376–397.

  28. 28.

    Jalal Bounouar, “Africa’s Best Football Academies,” Africa.com. https://www.africa.com/africas-best-football-academies/ (Accessed July 8, 2018). Académie Génération Foot, or Generation Foot, started life in Dakar in 2000. The academy was the brainchild of former Senegalese soccer player Mady Toure, who played in France in the 1990s before a knee injury forced him to retire. Generation Foot has produced some of Senegal’s professional soccer players including Sadio Mane of Liverpool FC, Papiss Cisse, the former Newcastle striker, and Diafra Sakho, who played for West Ham United FC in England. See Generation Foot, http://www.asgenerationfoot.com/ (Accessed July 29, 2018).

  29. 29.

    Diambars, http://www.diambars.org/bienvenue (Accessed July 29, 2018).

  30. 30.

    Sophie Eastaugh, “From Sand, to Grass, to Europe? Senegal’s Football Dream House,” CNN (June 8, 2018). https://www.cnn.com/2016/06/07/football/senegal-football-school-diambars/index.html (Accessed July 29, 2018).

  31. 31.

    Press Association, “Senegal Disqualified from 2013 Africa Cup of Nations after Crowd Trouble,” The Guardian (October 16, 2012). https://www.theguardian.com/football/2012/oct/16/senegal-disqualified-africa-cup-nations (Accessed July 30, 2018).

  32. 32.

    Fernando Duarte, Jonathan Wilson, Shaun Walker, Paolo Bandini and Paul Doyle, “Football Violence: A View from around the World,” The Guardian (December 19, 3013). https://www.theguardian.com/football/2013/dec/19/football-violence-view-aroundworld (Accessed July 30, 2018).

  33. 33.

    BBC Africa, “Senegal Demba Diop: Football Stadium Collapse Kills Eight,” https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-40621982 (Accessed July 30, 2018).

  34. 34.

    Alegi, <Emphasis Type="Italic">African Soccerscapes.

References

  • Akyeampong, Emmanuel, and Charles Ambler. “Leisure in Africa History: An Introduction.” The International Journal of African Historical Studies 35, No. 1 (2002): 1–16.

    Google Scholar 

  • Armstrong, Gary, and Richard Guilianotti, eds. Football in Africa: Conflict, Conciliation, and Community. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baller, Susann. “Football and the Representation of History: The Senegalese 2002 ‘Success Story’ in Football Cartoons and Advertisements.” Soccer & Society 13, No. 2 (March 2012): 309–326.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. “Transforming Urban Landscapes: Soccer Fields as Sites of Urban Sociability in the Agglomeration of Dakar.” African Identities 5, No. 2 (2007): 217–230.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. “Urban Football Performances: Playing for the Neighborhood in Senegal, 1950s–2000s.” Africa: The Journal of the International African Institute 84, No. 1 (February 2014): 17–35.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bathily, A. Mai 68 à Dakar ou la révolte universitaire et la démocratie. Paris: Chaka, 1992.

    Google Scholar 

  • BBC Africa. “Senegal Demba Diop: Football Stadium Collapse Kills Eight.” (July 16, 2017). https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-40621982 (Accessed July 30, 2018).

  • BBC Sport, “Senegalese Federation Plans Tribute for Bocande” (May 8, 2012). https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/17991406 (Accessed July 7, 2018).

  • Bounouar, Jalal. “Africa’s Best Football Academies.” Africa.com. https://www.africa.com/africas-best-football-academies/ (Accessed July 8, 2018).

  • Bradley, Jeff. “The Rise of African Soccer.” ESPN 2010 World Cup Guide (May, 2010): 32–35.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brewer, Benjamin D. “Switching Fields: The World Soccer Economy in an Era of Globalization.” PhD Dissertation, The Johns Hopkins University, 2006.

    Google Scholar 

  • Buggenhagen, Beth. Muslim Families in Global Senegal: Money Takes care of Shame. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2012.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chiweshe, Manase Kudzai. “Commercialization of Football in Africa: Prospects, Challenges, and Experiences.” In Michael J. Gennaro and Saheed Aderinto, eds. Sports in African History, Politics, and Identity Formation. New York, NY: Routledge, 2019, 206–219.

    Google Scholar 

  • Darby, Paul. Africa, Football, and FIFA: Politics, Colonialism, and Resistance. Abingdon, UK: Frank Cass, 2002.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. “‘Let Us Rally around the Flag’: Football, Nation-building, and Pan-Africanism in Kwame Nkrumah’s Ghana.” The Journal of African History 54, No. 2 (July 2013): 221–246.

    Google Scholar 

  • Deville-Danthu, Bernadette. Le sport en noir et blanc: Du sport colonial au sport africain dans les anciens territoires français d’Afrique occidentale, 1920–1965. Paris: Harmattan, 1997.

    Google Scholar 

  • Diambars. http://www.diambars.org/bienvenue (Accessed July 29, 2018).

  • Diouf, Mamadou, ed. Tolerance, Democracy, and Sufis in Senegal. New York: Columbia University Press, 2013.

    Google Scholar 

  • Doyle, Paul. “Bruno Metsu: The Man who inspired Senegal and all of Africa in 2002.” The Guardian (October 16, 2013). https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2013/oct/16/bruno-metsu-senegal-africa-2002 (Accessed May 26, 2018).

  • Duarte, Fernando, Jonathan Wilson, Shaun Walker, Paolo Bandini, and Paul Doyle. “Football Violence: A View from around the World.” The Guardian (December 19, 2013). https://www.theguardian.com/football/2013/dec/19/football-violence-view-around-world (Accessed July 30, 2018).

  • Dubois, Laurent. Soccer Empire: The World Cup and the Future of France. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 2010.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Eastaugh, Sophie. “From Sand, to Grass, to Europe? Senegal’s Football Dream House.” CNN (June 8, 2018). https://www.cnn.com/2016/06/07/football/senegal-football-school-diambars/index.html (Accessed July 29, 2018).

  • Faye, Ousseynou. “Sport, argent et politique: la lute libre à Dakar (1800–2000).” In Momar-Coumba Diop, ed. Le Sénégal contemporain. Paris: Karthala, 2002, 309–340.

    Google Scholar 

  • Films for the Humanities & Sciences (Firm). “More Than Just a Game: Competitions and Celebrations in Ethiopia, Ghana, Niger, Senegal, and Sudan.” New York, NY: Films Media Group, 2004.

    Google Scholar 

  • Generation Foot. http://www.asgenerationfoot.com/ (Accessed July 29, 2018).

  • Gifford, Paul. “Religion in Contemporary Senegal.” Journal of Contemporary Religion 31, No. 2 (2016): 255–267.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hann, Mark. “Why African Fans Love European Football: A Senegalese Perspective.” The Conversation (July 2, 2017). http://theconversation.com/why-african-fans-love-european-football-a-senegalese-perspective-79856 (Accessed May 23, 2018).

  • Harrison, Christopher. France and Islam in West Africa, 1860–1960. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Kanya-Forstner, A. S. The Conquest of the Western Sudan: A Study of French Military Imperialism. London: Cambridge University Press, 1969.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kilcline, Cathal. Sport and Society in Global France: Nations, Migrations, Corporations. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 2019.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • M’bayo, Tamba E. “The Politics of Football in Post-colonial Sierra Leone.” In Brenda Elsey and Stanislao G. Pugliese, eds. Football and the Boundaries of History: Critical Studies in Soccer. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2017, 267–293.

    Google Scholar 

  • Martin, Phyllis. Leisure and Society in Colonial Brazzaville. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995.

    Google Scholar 

  • Newbury, C. W., and A. S. Kanya-Forstner. “French Policy and the Origins of the Scramble for West Africa.” The Journal of African History 10, No. 2 (April 1969): 253–276.

    Google Scholar 

  • Peltz-Steele, Richard J. “The Sportswriter as Development Journalist: Covering African Football.” Ecquid Novi: African Journalism Studies 31, No. 2 (2010): 149–173.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Piot, Charles. Remotely Global: Village Modernity in West Africa. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1999.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Press Association. “Senegal Disqualified from 2013 Africa Cup of Nations after Crowd Trouble.” The Guardian (October 16, 2012). https://www.theguardian.com/football/2012/oct/16/senegal-disqualified-africa-cup-nations (Accessed July 30, 2018).

  • Ralph, Michael. “‘Le Sénégal Qui Gagne’: Soccer and the Stakes of Neoliberalism in a Postcolonial Port.” Soccer and Society 7, 2–3 (April–July 2006): 300–317.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Robinson, David. Muslim Societies in African History. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Ross, Eric. Culture and Customs of Senegal. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2008.

    Google Scholar 

  • Saavreda, Martha. “Football Feminine – Development of the African Game: Senegal, Nigeria and South Africa.” Soccer & Society 4, Issue 2–3 (2003): 225–253. https://doi.org/10.1080/14660970512331390925.

  • Sanneh, Lamin. Piety and Power: Muslims and Christians in West Africa. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1996.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schokkaert, Jeroen. “Football Clubs’ Recruitment Strategies and International Player Migration: Evidence from Senegal and South Africa.” Soccer & Society 17, Issue 1 (2016): 120–139. https://doi.org/10.1080/14660970.2014.919271.

  • Soares, Benjamin F., ed. Muslim-Christian Encounters in Africa. Leiden: Brill, 2006.

    Google Scholar 

  • Taylor, Matthew. “Global Players? Football, Migration and Globalization, c. 1930–2000.” Historical Social Research 31, No. 1 (115) (2006): 7–30.

    Google Scholar 

  • Williams, John. “The Local and the Global in English Soccer and the Rise of Satellite Television.” Sociology of Sport Journal 11, Issue 4 (December 1994): 376–397.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV, USA

    Tamba E. M’bayo

Authors
  1. Tamba E. M’bayo
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Tamba E. M’bayo .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Clayton State University, Morrow, GA, USA

    Augustine E. Ayuk

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2022 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

M’bayo, T.E. (2022). Soccer in Senegal: National Identity, Commercialization, and Acquisition of Wealth. In: Ayuk, A.E. (eds) Football (Soccer) in Africa. Global Culture and Sport Series. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-94866-5_10

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-94866-5_10

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-94865-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-94866-5

  • eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation