Africa at the Football World Cup, 1934–2018: defining moments and memories on the field

Abstract

ABSTRACTThis article looks at the memorable and defining moments that shaped the history of Africa’s participation in the World Cup. In this context ‘memorable’ refers to moments in the tournament that were attractive in terms of style of play, impact of the outcome and historical legacy. Closely related to memorable is the concept of ‘defining moments’. According to Badaracco (1997), defining moments have three characteristics: they reveal, they test, and they shape. Although this definition applies to leadership, it is used here to identify some defining moments that shaped the history of African soccer at the World Cup final tournaments preceding 1970 and in the subsequent tournaments till 2018. Although past performances by African teams have not yielded a championship trophy, there have been memorable and defining moments at each tournament that inspire hope for abreakthrough sooner than later.Abbreviations: CAF- Confederation of African Football; FIFA- Federation of International Football Associations