Identity and Nation in African Football ― Fans, Community and Clubs

The 2010 South African World Cup launched African football onto the global stage and its footballers are increasingly present at the best clubs in the world, yet it is rare to find compelling scholarship on the subject of African football. This book brings some of the top scholars on African football together to produce a collection that covers the diverse regions of the continent and diverse football topics. Focussing on aspects of identity, it spans issues of race, radicalization and self-identification, exploring the imagined continuation of war in support of a Nigerian club, the use of songs in support of a club and an ethnic community, and the effects of transnational broadcasting on supporter identification with football in Africa. This collection provides a valuable contribution to debates about African sport and identity and also contains an interview with one of Africa's first migrant footballers, Paul Bonga Bonga.

Chuka Onwumechili is Professor and Chair of the Strategic, Legal and Management Communication Department at Howard University, USA.

Gerard Akindes is Assistant Professor of Sports Administration in the Department of Sports Administration at Ohio University, USA.