Kwame Nkrumah’s Overthrow and Its Effect on National Team Players (1957–1980)

Abstract

Studies have revealed the evolution of African football from the 1980s to the 2000s by explaining how the migration of football talents from the continent intensified. Before the 1980s, African footballers were an integral part of sports labour migration to North America but this topic has evoked little scholarly interest in the history of football migration. This paper analyses the movement of African football talents, particularly West Africans, to leagues in the United States from 1967 to 1984. Data on this period of migration is lacking. The paper further provides insight into how the promotion of football by Nkrumah interplayed with political, social, and economic influences on the African continent. Firstly, it discusses several reasons behind Ghanaian players’ decision not to go abroad to play professionally after the country‘s independence in 1957 under the leadership of Kwame Nkrumah. Secondly, it analyses the state of football in Ghana after Nkrumah was overthrown, especially from the perspective of the national team players and its consequences on their livelihood. The continued decline of the game in Ghana after 1966 resulted in several players migrating to the North American Soccer League (NASL) in 1968. This further explains some adverse effects after Nkrumah was toppled. This paper concludes by bringing to the understanding of readers the continent‘s political icon who used sport as a vehicle to champion African unity via the mantra of Pan-Africanism.