Football Diffusion in French North, West and Equatorial Africa

Systematic African athletic talent migration to France bears considerable semblance to the broader economic imperialism of the colonial era in that it involved a hegemonic nation utilising its privileged position to exploit colonial areas by locating cheap resources, in this case the athlete, for manufacture and consumption elsewhere. Indeed, the role of the authorities in facilitating the development of the game in the first instance and later in attracting talented African athletes to compete under the French tricolour represents a clear example of French imperialism and as such is indicative of the extent to which the mechanics and rationale of the diffusion of football to Africa was grounded in colonial doctrine.