M’Baye Niang had come onto the field just seconds earlier, following treatment for an injury, when he saw the chance of a lifetime. Poland, seemingly unaware that Niang was back on, played the ball to their goalkeeper.
Niang, born to Senegalese immigrants in north-central France, raced after the ball, tickled it past a defender and the goalkeeper and toed it into the vacant net. The commentators called the goal controversial. For Niang, though, this was redemption. And for African World Cup soccer teams, it was a moment of vindication.
Back in 2013, Senegal had called up a teenage Niang, a rising star in the European leagues, to play for the country in a match against Zambia. Niang — who had earlier indicated interest in playing for the country of his parents — refused, picking club over nation. That decision sparked criticism and newspaper columns questioning his fidelity to the Senegalese soccer cause. But the national team continued to pursue him. Niang’s goal secured a crucial World Cup win last week against a Polish side ranked eighth in the world, 19 spots above Senegal. Now 24, Niang is again on the front pages in Senegal — only this time, as a hero.
Niang is among a growing number of African-origin players born or naturalized in Europe who are returning to represent the countries of their parents at tournaments like the World Cup, aided by eligibility rule relaxations in 2004 and 2008 by FIFA, the sport’s governing body. When German-born Kevin-Prince Boateng represented Ghana — the country his parents emigrated from — at the 2010 World Cup, he stood out because his appeared an isolated case. In fact, it was the start of a pattern that has since expanded, despite tensions over player loyalties.
The number of foreign-naturalized players representing African teams went up from 27 at the 2010 World Cup to 30 at the 2014 World Cup. At the current World Cup in Russia, 37 players born or brought up in Europe are playing for African teams: 17 for Morocco, nine for Senegal, six for Nigeria and five for Tunisia.
“It’s a great story,” says Wiebe Boer, soccer analyst and author of A Story of Heroes and Epics: The History of Football in Nigeria (1904–1960), pointing out how traditionally, “immigrant children played for their adopted countries.”
For decades, the phenomenon of foreign-origin soccer players representing countries was restricted to flows from poorer to richer nations, or between wealthy countries. The legendary Eusébio, who starred for Portugal at the 1966 World Cup, was born in Maputo, Mozambique. France had a Black captain as early as the 1978 World Cup. The U.S. team at the 1994 World Cup had multiple German-born players — sons and grandsons of American soldiers and German mothers — some of whom couldn’t even speak English, recalls Boer. As recently as the 2006 World Cup, France’s hopes lived — and eventually died — with the performance of the Algerian-origin Zinedine Zidane.
Credit: Ozy.com