Back to the Soccer Newsfeed

Drogba, Eto’o, Weah: African football’s great ambassadors

Goal takes a look at some of the continent's great exports whose influence has transcended football and celebrates their heroics off the pitch

With the global coronavirus pandemic bringing football to its knees and posing existential questions as to its actual relevance within the wider society, it feels almost like a reckoning for a sector that seemed on the verge of exploding, so bloated and out-of-touch had it become.

While European football has to this point been able to largely insulate itself from real world problems, African football has always been very much a product of its environment, from the players all the way up to the administrators.