Street footballers of Guinea-Bissau
1.7 million people live in the West African nation of Guinea-Bissau and many of them are crazy about football. But would-be players have a difficult time. Pitches, coaches or football academies are very hard to find.
Harsh conditions
If you want to play top football in Guinea-Bissau, you are in for a tough time. Very few pitches meet international standards. Most games are played on the street or on parched land. Young players often can’t afford footwear.
Unknown stars
There are many young potential football stars in Guinea-Bissau. But barely anyone knows who they are because young talent is seldom nurtured. Following the 2012 coup, the country remains in political and economic crisis. Schools are often closed by strikes, so young people spend their time playing football.
Improvised football pitch
Sao Domingo is a small town in the north of Guinea-Bissau, close to the border with Senegal. The children are playing football on this hard, dusty, uneven ground. Houses are going to be built here eventually, but in the meantime it serves as a football pitch.
No coach
There are no proper training sessions and no football coach to help then. The players choose their positions themselves. The striker position is the most coveted because the young players know that is where the top stars with the best salaries play.
Dreaming of a football career
They call Maurico Sisse “Messi” because of his agility on the pitch. The ten-year-old orphan does not believe that his home country Guinea-Bissau will ever qualify for the World Cup. That’s why he dreams of playing for Portugal one day. A businessman is giving Maurico financial backing and hopes that he will be able to secure a place for him at a European football academy.
Practice and yet more practice
Aliu Seidi is eight years old. He‘s also dreaming of becoming a footballer. But his parents don’t have enough money to pay for a coach. But he is ambitious and gets up early every morning so he can practice for several hours.
Playing during a break from work
Martinho Sa grows rice for a living. When he’s not working, he goes to the Fidjus di Bidera Academy to practice. It is one of the recently-opened training centers for young footballers. Sa says he has been injured several times, because the pitches are in such a bad condition. There is no first aid.
Street football league
Campeonata Defeso is a street football league which has been staged in Guinea-Bissau for the last ten years. This amateur competition attracts hundreds of spectators to every match. Young players see it as an opportunity to display their skills to a relatively big crowd for the first time.
The best player in the village
Saido Balde is just seven years old. He was born in the village of Pelundo in the north of Guinea-Bissau. He says he has never seen football matches on television. There is no electricity in the village. He plays regularly every morning without having had any breakfast. His family, like many others in Guinea-Bissau, can only afford one meal a day.
Just have to improvise
If you’re really determined, you can make your own football pitch more or less anywhere. These goal posts have been crafted out of bamboo. Now all that’s needed for the kick-off is the remainder of the two teams.
Football talent going to waste
Lacking professional nutrition plans and systematic practice sessions, Guinea-Bissau footballers find it hard to compete internationally. The country’s national team is languishing between the Comoro Islands and the Bahamas in 183rd place on the FIFA World Rankings. Yet there is no shortage of motivated players. Author: Braima Darame / mc Editor: Chrispin Mwakideu