JAPA AIRWAYS ✈️🌍
Nigerians are well versed with the Nigerian slang “Japa”, which is a term used to describe someone emigrating to another country! In the Yoruba language it loosely translates to “escape” or “run away”.
Most young footballers in Nigeria/Africa dream of “japa-ing” and playing in a big league. It’s actually a huge prayer point. They do sometimes have to play in one of the smaller leagues, prove themselves and then get scouted into a big(ger) league, but hey… you have to crawl, walk and then run right? So that’s not a biggie… Those small leagues/clubs come with advantages and disadvantages. I’ll go through some of these in another post so we don’t digress from the topic of the “japa syndrome”
I have engaged in many debates and discussions with one of my mentors, businessman and football administrator, Dr Kofi Amoah aka “Citizen Kofi”, who has been super vocal about the need for African countries to start developing their leagues to prevent the mass exodus of players. He once stated that (Ghanaian) club owners were having to sell their best players to make money to “keep going”. Further, that it diminished the value and quality of the club and reduced their internal strength.
As much as I agree with the above, how easy would it be to achieve ?
Here’s the Catch 22 ⬇️
“The leagues need sponsors to inject in cash, but the sponsors need to see value. To create value, the leagues need cash”
Some of the actions that could create value are:
1. Building good pitches/stadia
2. Increasing fan engagement
3. Televising matches
4. Paying good salaries to players, and offering other benefits, like pensions and health/life insurance.
5. National team selection from the local leagues
6. Well organised football federations with visionary and selfless leaders
7. Partnerships with foreign clubs for the purpose of technology transfers
Until then most African players will favour plying their trade abroad…. And japa-ing will continue to be a thing in African football ⚽️⚽️⚽️
Don’t forget to checkout Afriskaut, a scouting platform for scouting talented African players. If you are a club, club scout or player agency and would like to know more, why not send me a message or alternatively book in for a demo via the link below 👇🏾
Also, if you are an African club wondering how you can feature on Afriskaut, please get in touch 🙏🏾
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