books to read during confinement
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Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, continental football has come to a standstill. Containment has been decreed in several African states. For lovers of African round ball, RFI offers a selection of books to read, in order to maintain their passion during this period.
Africa and the football planet (Paul Dietschy and David Claude Kemo Keimbou)
An incredible introduction to the history of African football, published in E / P / A editions in 2008. This rich (and very voluminous) work, written by two renowned historians, is abundantly illustrated and documented. Both authors have benefited from the benevolence of FIFA to access a number of valuable archives. Thanks to the reading of this very beautiful book, we better understand the ins and outs of the phenomenal development of this sport on the continent.
Africa United, how football explains Africa (Steve Bloomfield)
Major reporter, Steve Bloomfield traveled several African countries to produce this book, in 2014. Book which illustrates the incredible impact of sport-king on millions of people across the continent. A must to better understand, in particular, the reciprocal influence of football and politics in Africa.
Magic system, the modern slavery of African footballers (Barthélémy Gaillard and Christophe Gleizes)
Here is another reality of football in Africa, much less glorious: the exploitation of its players, including the youngest, by unscrupulous agents, intermediaries, institutions and clubs. » Between Africa and Europe is thus organized a particularly opaque trading system, where the African footballer is hardly worth more than a simple kilo of cotton or cocoa. », Write the authors. These also bring to light the real industrial boom in which Qatar has been engaged on the continent in recent years.
It’s much more than a game (Pope Diouf)
Pape Diouf has just left us, struck down by the coronavirus. The Senegalese-French may have been a talented journalist before being the president of Olympique de Marseille, he has produced few books, including this one, published in 2013. The former player agent narrates there his exemplary career and his rise, from his native Senegal to the South of France where he has become a key figure in football.
Mister George, fictionalized biography of George Weah (Antoine Grognet)
RFI sports journalist, passionate about Africa, Antoine Grognet retraces the journey of the only African to have won the Ballon d’Or France Football. A romanticized vision of an extraordinary destiny. The work certainly stops before the election of George Weah to the presidency of Liberia. But this is another story…
Death will wait for me (Claire Raynaud)
A biography as moving as it is edifying: that of Pierre Ndaye Mulamba, legend of Congolese football who became a martyr of the former Zaire. For having said « no » to a whim of Mobutu’s power, the hero of CAN 1974 saw one of his sons die, was crippled and had to flee to South Africa where he finished most of his life. life in misery. A poignant story.
Independence dribblers : the incredible story of the Algerian FLN football team (Michel Nait-Challal)
On July 19, 2019 in Cairo, the Algerian team won its second African Cup of Nations after the coronation of 1990. Sixty-one years earlier, nine players illegally left French territory to form the backbone of ‘a team defending the cause of the Algerian National Liberation Front. For four years, these talented footballers put their club careers on hold to promote Algerian independence throughout the world. Michel Nait-Challal looks back on this unique political and footballing epic.
