THE TRUTH ABOUT PLAYING PROFESSIONAL FOOTBALL AS AN AFRICAN?

When I was only 7 years old, my biggest dream—the be all and end all of my entire life—was to play professional football for Arsenal Football Club in London, England. 

At the time, I was just a naïve little boy with big dreams. In my family’s living room in Nairobi, Kenya we would watch the likes of Dennis Bergkamp, Robert Pires and Patrick Viera – they were our superheroes. 

No lie, Thierry Henry was my ‘black Jesus’—my idol ( I would even walk like him when I played).

As I grew older, my fervent love for football only intensified. I joined different academies here in Kenya played for my school teams… and I was talented too. I won various awards and to this day my room in my parents’ home is filled with medals and trophies. 

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But… Unfortunately, then—and even now—nobody tells young footballers in Africa and Kenya about the realities of trying to play football internationally. Every Academy promises the same thing; that after playing for them you will travel far away, play in a trial in a foreign country in Europe and all your dreams will come true. 

That fairytale journey happens for very few in this world. and if you don’t believe that only 1% of footballers make it pro, name me any Kenyan, or East African that has ever played for Arsenal, Chelsea, Man United… It just doesn’t happen. The problem is when parents and players are not told why.

To this day, many football academies in Nairobi, Kenya, Africa, sell a dream that is merely a fantasy to get kids and parents to enroll in their programs. Sometimes, the academies themselves don’t know the truth. Other times, the prospect of earning money from parents/players is more important. I just want to tell people the truth… it hurts much more when you realize the truth too late. 

Since my humble days as a footballer in Nairobi, I have been lucky (I prefer to say blessed) enough to have seen the world because of football. I’ve played in 4 different countries, and I played in the United States for 8 years where I played at all levels of the game. We won a National Championship in 2015 at the college level, I played semi professionally for 4 years, had professional opportunities… In 2016 I was voted in the best 11 in the southern region of the United States at U23 level. I don’t say this to brag… instead, I’m saying this because people can talk about the challenges of playing professional football, but it’s different when you’ve actually lived through them. 

In 2016, I was supposed to attend pre-season with a Finnish first division club (in the Veikkausliiga). Weeks before my travel they said they couldn’t take another international player. I have had trials with clubs in various leagues including the MLS, where it felt the only barrier was my passport and country of origin. There are so many barriers to entry in the global professional game and it makes you realize that the world of professional football is not sunshine and roses. It’s grey and confusing. But nobody tells you that growing up—especially as an African. So, let me be the first. 

Why is playing internationally so hard?

I’ll start by informing you that when it comes to playing professional football internationally, there are many obstacles for “foreign players”. 

Every elite football league, even the Kenyan premier league has limits on how many ‘foreign’ players a team can have at any one time. Because of this, if you’re a ‘foreign’ player in the country where you’re trying to play professionally, it is so much harder. 

But, why do the limits of foreign players exist? 

Because playing professionally is a job and every country has immigration policies that guard against foreign workers coming to take ‘their peoples’ jobs. It’s that simple.

Let’s talk about the English Premier League, because everybody wants to play there. To play football professionally in the UK, you need a work permit. To get a work permit as a Non-EU player (a player outside of the European Union, i.e. an African), the FA, English football’s governing body, states that you must have a certain number of games played for your national team in the past 1 or 2 years. For a country that is outside the top 50 of the FIFA rankings like Kenya, you need to have played 75% of national team games in the past 2 years, or—if you’re under 21—75% in the past 1 year. This is rarely the case for many young Kenyan players who aspire to play in the UK… hence why it’s so hard. 

But let’s say that you do have the national team caps and are eligible for a work permit, why would an English club forgo every player in the UK—then every player in the entire EU—then every other talented player in the world and pick you from a little known footballing country like Kenya… you’d have to be pretty special.

I’m not saying this to discourage anyone… but you need to know. 

If you want to read more about rules for foreign players in the UK, Click HERE.  

Now these rules that determine the movement of players internationally differ by country and are complex. For example, in the MLS, each team is only allowed 8 international players, in the Spanish La Liga, only three non-EU players can be included in any match-day squad. 

 You should also consider that FIFA bans the international transfers of players under the age of 18 unless their parents have emigrated for reasons not connected to football. 

These things make playing internationally for Africans, and particularly Kenyans very hard. 

So what do we do now?

People forget just how big the football world is. I’ll give you my personal advice. You are not going to go from playing in any club in Kenya to playing in Europe. If you are a young player in an academy here, you need to get yourself an ‘in between’ opportunity. A  place where you will get the exposure and the elite training. Joining an international academy which offers education as well as football is best. 

Going on trials with professional academies if you’re under the age of 18 is pointless. Of course, some clubs do sign players under 18 and give them ‘host’ families, but that is also illegal and for a club to go to such lengths, you’d have to be better than anything they have seen. Which is unlikely. 

You can also play in the US. Many international players play in America, because it is one of the few countries that fuses elite football (soccer) and education. To give you context, my roommate when I played in the USA had played for the Man United youth team until U14… he came to America for more opportunities. “if you don’t make it in Europe by 16, you’re done…” That’s what they’ll tell you.  So many talented players pursue other opportunities. 

At True Talents of Africa, we partner with FA Euro (US), SRUSA (in the UK) and FC Malaga City (Spain), to give talented players real opportunities. Not sell them hopeless dreams. If you want to know more Click HERE. If you want to attend one of our Elite camps and trial for any of these opportunities, APPLY HERE. 

This blog post is brought to you by True Talents of Africa – Africa’s greatest Sports Opportunity provider. Written by Kimathi Kaumbutho, TTA Football Academy Director and Author of ‘To Chase a Dream in Nairobi’ (to purchase, click here)

References

Brief, I. (n.d.). Footballer work permits. Retrieved from In Brief: https://www.inbrief.co.uk/football-law/footballer-work-permits/

Homewood, B. (2016). Reuters. Retrieved from Fifa faces lawsuit over rules banning transfer of minors: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-soccer-fifa-transfers/fifa-faces-lawsuit-over-rules-banning-transfer-of-minors-idUSKBN13J14P