African fans revel in World Cup success as continent makes record showing

Aba Sylla and Omar Gomis arrived at one of Dakar's World Cup fan zones wearing what has become their daily uniform during the tournament: matching shirts, pants and hats in the colors of the Senegalese flag. Sylla drove a similarly outfitted motorbike, with a photo of himself covered in yellow, red and green paint plastered on the front fender.

Sylla and Gomis are members of the Senegal national soccer team’s official fan club, called the “12ème Gaïndé”––meaning “12th lion” in Wolof in reference to Senegal’s lion mascot––who are recognized by the government and often have their travel to games covered.

They are Senegalese super fans, but they also rally soccer fans to attend all of the African matches. They hoped they would have a large turnout at the fan zone for Ivory Coast’s game Tuesday evening against Norway.

“During the World Cup, all of the African countries that are a part of the World Cup come together,” Sylla said. “Because if Ivory Coast plays, it’s Africa who plays. If Senegal plays, it’s Africa who plays.”

This is Senegal’s fourth time appearing in the World Cup. But this year’s tournament is historic for Africa as a whole.

A record ten African teams qualified for the World Cup, and another record setting nine of them made it to the Round of 32. South Africa was eliminated Sunday, but Morocco eliminated the Netherlands on Monday night and the other African teams are set to play over the course of this week.

This was the first time Cape Verde has ever qualified, and Congo made it to the World Cup for the first time in more than 50 years.

From a bar in Ghana, Johnson Gameli Kportufe said this year’s World Cup was exciting as an African soccer fan. “I think we are growing, Africa, yes we are growing. Because nine teams out of ten have qualified to the second stage,” he said.

African sports analyst Colin Udoh said a combination of factors has prevented African soccer from reaching its full potential in the past, ranging from discipline on and off the field to biased officiating.

“The federations are not paying players on time, not giving them the professional treatment they deserve or just not doing things that they need to do to have the players perform at a high level and these things always translate to the pitch,” he said.

But, he said, the talent was always there.

Udoh said that despite internal problems, African soccer has been undervalued by the international soccer community.

"For too long there has been a dismissal of African football,” he said. But he believes with the African teams’ performance at this World Cup, their competitiveness is becoming more visible.

“Recently coming into this World Cup, you had the Italy coach Gennaro Gattuso, saying that African teams should have less places at the World Cup. You had the UEFA president saying things, similar things. So Africa has always had quality. I think now the world is beginning to see it."