Global China and the Global Game in Africa

1 China–Africa Relations through Football

Jonathan Sullivan¹

Two-way exchange between China and Africa is multifaceted and long- standing (Large 2021). Since 2000, diplomatic, economic, cultural, and educational engagements have been consolidated and institutionalized through the Forum on China–Africa Cooperation (FOCAC). Trade relations are intense, and African countries constitute a significant cohort of partners involved in the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Reliable data are scarce, but there are likely several hundred thousand Chinese citizens residing in Africa and around 200,000 Africans living in China. Over the past two decades, China’s presence and purported ambitions in Africa have attracted significant attention, skepticism, and criticism, especially in western nations (Mawdsley 2008). In China’s relations with many African countries there are real inequalities and serious substantive and normative issues to consider. These issues are sometimes captured by the amorphous term “neocolonialism” (Negi 2008), a combination of economic and political influence that leverages China’s power differential to the detriment of African partners. There is, however, no evidence that China is “seeking colonies, using prisoners as cheap labor or any of the other lurid accusations made against ‘the Chinese’ in Africa” (Taylor 2014, 121), and Hirono and Suzuki (2014) argue that the tenor of related debates “reflect deeply rooted western anxieties that their traditional dominance in Africa is about to be overthrown by a non-western power” (455).

The observation that China–Africa engagement goes beyond the repertoire of stylized “myths” that Hirono and Suzuki (2014) identify is not to dismiss Chinese government support for illiberal regimes, Chinese companies’ pursuit of African natural resources, the lending practices of state financiers or a host of other issues. However, it is a reminder that moving beyond the “myths” there is a multiplicity of exchanges occurring in both sites, with influences traveling in both directions. The chapters in this book show how football is one site where these multi-directional processes play out. Indeed, football is an illuminating case study in China–Africa exchange and a useful vehicle for exploring the complexities of the transcontinental relationship at different levels: from nation-states, corporations, and institutions, to clubs, players and fans. China–Africa and Africa-China exchanges in football are germane to numerous highly salient research areas, including soft power, international media, commercialization, South-South relations, geopolitics, international sports governance, diplomacy, labor migration and transnational fandoms. These issues are explored in the book by a multidisciplinary cast of scholarly experts on China, Africa, and football.

Since 1969–1970, China has constructed, financed or gifted dozens of football stadiums across the African continent (Xue et al. 2019). To date, China has contributed sports infrastructure in 36 different African countries. Known by the (generally) negatively valanced descriptor “stadium diplomacy,” the practice has been viewed with skepticism by western observers (Dubinsky 2021). Put charitably, such interpretations of stadium financing and construction reflect a focus on contrasting motivations and interests, and differential power and exchange relations that are also associated with China’s exploitation of African natural resources, corruption and “debt traps” (Brautigam 2020). Chapters 2 and 12 of this volume explore an alternative perspective on African countries’ continuing willingness to accept Chinese-funded stadiums, but neither denies the negative externalities observed in cases where stadiums go unused or scarce resources have been wasted. More broadly, it is undeniable that some African countries’ engagement with China has produced observably negative outcomes for those societies, including the enrichment and entrenchment of repressive and self-interested regimes and the failure of African resource wealth to benefit local people through re-investment in industrial capacity, healthcare, or education. Local society-led resistance to the presence and practices of Chinese actors has been observed in several African countries (Leslie 2016). These issues deserve appropriate scrutiny and criticism. Equally, however, the mono-dimensionality and normative basis for some depictions of “China in Africa” require redressing, and African perspectives brought back in (Sautman and Yan 2009). This is arguably the case in football exchange too, where stadium diplomacy is just one among many forms of connection between China and African countries. The desire to contribute a more holistic and balanced understanding of engagement through football underpins the motivation for this book. Moving beyond stadium diplomacy as a manifestation of China’s instrumental use of sport to gain influence and advantage in Africa, the chapters in this book use the diversity of exchanges in football to explore a range of political, economic, social, and cultural issues. The resulting collection provides an original treatment of China–Africa and Africa-China relations that accounts for African agency, speaks to the diversity of practitioners and stakeholders, and leverages perspectives from individual African nations and China.

Engagement in football represents a conceptual and empirical challenge to conventional western “China–Africa” narratives, not least by undermining the implied unidirectionality of influence. In football, “Africa-China” engagement is as salient as “China–Africa.” One need only consider some of the many African players to have contributed to the development of the Chinese Super League (CSL)—Cameroon’s Stéphane Mbia, Ivorian Didier Drogba, the D. R. Congo’s Cédric Bakambu, Ghanaian Asamoah Gyan, Mali’s Frédéric Kanouté, Nigeria’s Yakubu Ayegbeni, and Senegal’s Demba Ba. And let us not forget the contribution of African talent to the Chinese Women’s Super League, including Zambian superstar Barbra Banda (who moved to Orlando Pride in spring 2024 for a near world record transfer fee). Football labor migration is only the tip of the iceberg. China and African countries are relevant to global governance of football, where placing officials in executive roles and securing voting blocs that determine hosting rights in multilateral bodies can be highly consequential economically (Chadwick et al. 2022). Football possesses abundant “soft power” potential (Grix and Houlihan 2014), as well as the perils of “sport washing” (Skey 2023). Chinese investors and sponsors play an important role in the development of football in Africa, exemplified by Chinese involvement in the continent’s crown jewel international competition, the African Cup of Nations (AFCON) (Cockayne et al. 2022).

Bilateral partnerships are manifest in relations between the Chinese Football Association (CFA) and numerous African Football Associations (FA). The deal agreed with the Ghanaian FA in 2012 and formally commencing in 2017 was typical. China, a global power in women’s football, opened its facilities to the Ghanaian women’s team and arranged friendly matches in advance of Ghana hosting the women’s AFCON. In return, the Ghana FA supported Chinese youth football development, including team visits and training matches. Not coincidentally, the Chinese media firm StarTimes then secured the broadcast rights to the Ghana Premier League, and under the terms of the deal China agreed to fund the construction of 10 artificial pitches in the country. StarTimes has become a significant player in the mediation of African football, with exclusive long-term rights deals in several countries. The company is also effectively a gatekeeper for foreign football in Africa through its broadcast rights to show European football in several African nations. StarTimes’ involvement in African football must also be contextualized within the broader expansion of Chinese media operations on the continent (Jedlowski 2021; Lewis 2023).