The English, Spanish, German, Italian and French top divisions attract more interest in Africa than the African leagues. The Real Madrid-Barcelona, Manchester City, Manchester United, Paris-Marseille, Milan-Inter Milan and Bayern-Dortmund derbies attract the attention of the Malian sporting public, whereas derbies in the national championship struggle to cross borders. It’s a sad fact of life in the realm of football that the old continent monopolizes the main wealth, with the biggest sports infrastructures, the biggest contracts and the best players. The rest of the world can only watch and envy.
In Mali, the national “ligue 1 orange” championship doesn’t interest many people. Few have mastered the programs, with a fairly limited knowledge of the clubs involved. His fervor struggles to create excitement among Malians. Malian sports fans prefer matches in the five “big European leagues”. The country’s two oldest clubs, AS Réal and Djoliba AC, clashed in Bamako on Sunday April 21. But this derby went unnoticed. Some are even unaware of the existence of a championship in Mali.
On the same day, thousands of kilometers away, the two biggest clubs in the Spanish championship, Real and Barça, faced off. The match was watched in Mali by hundreds of thousands of fans, despite the power cuts. There were several reasons for this, according to specialists in the field. ‘There is very little communication around the championship. It is only distributed through the various communication channelsexplains sports journalist Moussa Sidibé. Another factor, according to him, is ‘
is the absence of professional players”.
.
An opinion shared by Bréhima Diallo, sports journalist at ORTM. He believes that ‘Those with the means come and find the best players in our championship. As a result, there’s a lack of talent and performance, all things that are in demand in soccer. The level of our championship is quite low, not to say mediocre. This situation doesn’t generate any entertainment, whereas it’s entertainment that generates interest in soccer”.. He adds that ”
in Europe, clubs are institutions, but in Mali, they are associations
”.
We must also add ‘the more or less historical context”. Europe dominated world soccer from a very early stage. It has established itself as the epicenter of the sport. In Europe, the level of play and the quality of players are high..” Comments Mamadou Oury Diallo, a master’s student specializing in sports at ESJ Lille. According to him, another related aspect is the environment, ”… in Mali, there are no savings to make the championship professional. It’s not uncommon to see players who are not paid’.‘.
A passion for European championships
Despite the intensity of the power cuts in Bamako, fans of Europe’s top leagues don’t miss a single match of their favorite teams.
“
With our phones plugged into the powerbank, we watch matches live on international sports platforms, free of charge, all we need is access to the internet connection
“said this Real Madrid supporter.
A few hours after theclassicoAs a result of the “Spanish Liga” clash between Real Madrid and FC Barcelona on April 21, Malian fans on both sides are talking to each other all over the place. “We’re far superior to Barça: as well as being the King of Spain, we also dominate the whole of Europe with our 14 Champions League trophies.“A supporter of Spanish club Réal Madrid, wearing the club’s jersey, quipped.
In the midst of this pervasive din, the “barcelonais” didn’t let themselves be dominated, one of them standing up and giving a summary of the match and pointing the finger at the refereeing, “our goal was disallowed by the referee. It’s always like that, Real steals the games and the referees are with you.“
In Mali, the European championships are the most closely followed, and every weekend hundreds of fans gather in this family to watch the matches of their favorite clubs. However, during this period of heavy load shedding, this Moribabougou resident always powers his generator for these occasions, “
I love soccer, I don’t miss a single match in the English Premier League, my favorite club is Liverpool.
“
According to him, “
the English championship is a competition for warriors compared to the other European championships, which are not very intense.
”
While some follow these soccer competitions for their passion for the game, others do so to make money, through sports betting.
“I bet daily on soccer matches, especially European league matches, because I have a better grasp of the performances of these clubs. Otherwise, I don’t have a favorite club. We’re looking to make money from matches in these big leagues. I often earn more than 100,000fcfa for a single match, as I can also usually come away empty-handed.“said this avid bettor from Moribabougou.
Why European championships?
Moreover, according to many of these fans of European championships, they prefer these competitions to the national championship, “
because of their great performance, good organization and competitive spirit, the best club in the world can be beaten by an unknown club”.
“said one amateur. Before drawing a contrast with Mali’s Ligue 1, “back home, it’s almost always the same clubs that are at the top level, the level of soccer is low, the state of the stadiums is not good. What’s more, supervision is poor and there’s corruption.“
Some, like Madou Fané, believe that “.it’s time for FIFA, in collaboration with CAF, to develop a project to highlight our national championships. A project that could attract major companies to invest in our soccer, which today produces world-class players. Great publicity is needed to develop the Malian championship”
Mohamed Camara / Adama Tembely / ©️ Malikonews.com
