Despite The Benefits of Bosman Rule To World Football, Most African Teams Remain Broke!

Footballs on green grass

When Belgian football player Jean-Marc Bosman took his club side, RFC Liege of Belgium to the European Court of Justice for infringing on his rights to transfer his services to French club Dunkerque, nobody expected the immense transformation the verdict would bring to World football, until the judge ruled in his favor and against RFC Liege, Belgian FA and UEFA. 

 Before the Bosman Ruling, 

‘’A football player could only move to another club with the agreement of both clubs. Usually, this agreement was only reached by the setting of a "transfer fee", whereby the buying club actually purchased the player from the selling club. This applied regardless of whether or not the player’s contract with the selling club had ended’’. 

 Secondly, the ruling affirmed that quota systems for foreign players who could participate in a match were also held to be illegal.

Article 39 of the EU Treaty, effectively removed this impediment which the quota system created, and consequently, clubs now had the opportunity to recruit as many foreign players as they wanted, provided they came from within the EU States. With this barrier broken, the movement of EU players across the leagues, increased. 

 The consequences to football clubs especially in Europe were that clubs now need to sign players for longer contracts than before; otherwise, they will risk losing their players on free transfers. Unfortunately, smaller clubs cannot afford to sign longer contracts with players (especially young players) who may not fulfill their potential. Therefore, the good players at smaller clubs will usually be able to move to a bigger club on a free transfer. This law hugely stirred the traffic of players from Africa and South America into Europe. Most South American players who could trace their ancestry to Portugal, through colonialism, circumvented the law to easily qualify for EU passport status. The African players, they were taken by football agents to the smaller leagues to enable them to qualify for EU passport status and move to the bigger leagues after some time. This factor immensely transformed world football and made Europe the go-to destination for the most ambitious footballers. 

Former Arsenal FC, coaching legend, Arsene Wenger is known to have contributed to the development of the Sol Beni football facility in Cote D'Ivoire where players were nurtured by European coaches and taken to smaller leagues in France and Belgium for further sales to better clubs. The Kolo and Yaya Toure, Emmanuel Eboe, Salomon Kalou, Gervinho et al emerged from this project. 

One would expect that over twenty years after the Bosman Ruling, African clubs(North African club sides appear to be thriving though) would have explored flourishing collaborations to bring players into Europe and possibly vice versa, with both sides enjoying huge profits, yet the reverse is the case. European clubs buy footballers coming directly from Africa at very cheap fees, compared to the value such players in their country would command. As a result of the poor economy of most African states, these transfer fees end up as huge capital when converted to their local currencies, yet very few African clubs have forged this kind of collaboration to generate huge revenues through player sales. 

Different flags of African nations

 POSSIBLE REASONS FOR THE LACK OF COLLABORATION BETWEEN AFRICAN AND EUROPEAN CLUBS 

 1. Lack of Accountability 

 Just as in governance, the dubious management style of African administrators makes it difficult for most European teams to forge such relationships. The case of the collapse of the collaboration between Ajax Cape Town and Ajax Amsterdam remains fresh. We see African FA's begging for support and owing their coaches despite the grants they receive from FIFA.

 2. Insider theft and brazen corruption 

Huge insider theft and brazen corruption abound in the transfer of African players to Europe and club administrators often connive with football agents to ensure that these players move to Europe as free players, cutting off the clubs and giving little or nothing to the national FA's. 

 3. Lack of Administrative Structure 

 The poor administrative structure of most FA's and clubs and their lack of vision have made it impossible for them to explore such collaborations for the enduring benefits of their enterprise. 

Just like the inept administration replete in several African states, the Bosman ruling has only benefited Africa from the perspective of better remuneration for its players plying their trade within Europe. The same cannot be said for improving the structure and financial capacities of most African clubs and FA's. No wonder FCMG companies avoid sponsorship deals within our local leagues and clubs to avoid unjustifiable financial losses.