Kalusha Bwalya
Kalusha Bwalya
IT is a very revealing fact that of the 34 African teams who have competed in the World Cup Finals over the years, foreign coaches have led 24 of them. At the 2010 tournament in South Africa, Algeria’s Rabah Saadane stood out as the only African coach among the continent’s six finalists.
It’s an alarming statistic, however there is a reason for it. Most African federations, understandably, want a coach with top-level international experience and unfortunately the coaching infrastructure in much of Africa is not sophisticated enough for home grown coaches to be getting these opportunities.
From a playing perspective, Africa is unquestionably now part of the fabric of world football culture. When I was starting out, I was one of the first Africans to play in Europe when I signed for Cercle Brugges in 1985 and later PSV Eindhoven at the start of 1989. Now the continent has a reputation for producing some of today’s greatest talents, fulfilling key roles at some of the world’s biggest clubs and playing at the very highest level – Didier Drogba, Samuel Eto’o, Michael Essien, Salif Keita, Yaya Toure to name but a few.
However, where our players are rapidly catching up with the rest of the football world, our coaches are not. We have a lot of fantastically talented people, both men and women, in our countries but we need to help them learn and develop their coaching abilities so that we can try and bring ourselves to the same level as the rest of the world. And this is why I am such a huge supporter of initiatives that are designed to help African football coaching to move forward. It is a very important part of the African football journey.
I myself am living proof of the benefits of such programmes. It was thanks to the World Coaches programme – an initiative implemented by the Dutch Football Federation that brought coaches to various parts of Africa to pass on their experience – that I did my UEFA A License in 2001/02.
And now there are other similar programmes in place such as those provided by the charity Coaching For Hope, or the initiatives implemented by certain European clubs. CAF (Confederation of African Football) has implemented the CAF ‘A’, ‘B’ and ‘C’ Licenses that are ongoing in the whole of Africa and hoping that by 2015 all the Coaches operating in African Football will have been certified by CAF.
These programmes are vital in giving African coaches a chance to achieve greatness. The enthusiasm, energy and potential are already there but the experience and expertise often are not.
Whether at a community level or even right up to professional club level in Africa, the knowledge and know-how that qualified European coaches can share will help their African equivalents gradually develop so that they too can reach the same levels as African players have done on the world stage.
For me, football is all about achieving the maximum potential whether you are a player, a coach or a fan, and this is the message that we’re giving out to all viewers of the Guinness Football Challenge TV series. And it’s not just on the TV show that you can do this – I’ve been playing the Guinness Football Challenge game on my mobile phone and it’s a great way to test your football knowledge.
Give it a go and find out for yourself, and if you are up to the challenge, you could be partnering Jay Jay Okocha, Rigobert Song, Marcel Desaillyor myself in the TV show’s exclusive season finale. Just head to m.guinnessvip.com, where you can register for free, and start playing the game. Remember to drink responsibly – 18+.