Systematic African athletic talent migration to France bears considerable semblance to the broader economic imperialism of the colonial era in that it involved a hegemonic nation utilising its privileged position to exploit colonial areas by locating cheap resources, in this case the athlete, for manufacture and consumption elsewhere. Indeed, the role of the authorities in facilitating the development of the game in the first instance and later in attracting talented African athletes to compete under the French tricolour represents a clear example of French imperialism and as such is indicative of the extent to which the mechanics and rationale of the diffusion of football to Africa was grounded in colonial doctrine.
This applies too to Argentina, by the way, the only difference is that this occurs in clubs, we fabricate some of the best players in the world which Europe buys super cheaply and then increment their value by millions. The only difference is that Argentina has a system in place where if a player ever plays for Argentina they will only be able to play for our country again, so to a national level we have great players that quickly move to Europe, in the international level we have those very players that play on Europe playing here, making it one of the best football teams in the world.
I hate how European leagues keep buying players from non-european leagues and bringing the level of those leagues down. If you look at the rosters of non-European teams in the WC, it’s all European clubs. South American leagues used to be on par with European leagues but now the level is somewhat lower.
China is trying to beat the European club dominance with the Chinese Super League but has kinda failed until now, although I’m sure they’ll get there one day
