Highlights: African Games: “Few countries are applying to organize them”. The 13th African Games, a multi-sport event which has taken place on the continent every four years since 1965, takes place in Ghana from March 8 to 23, 2024. If they can be considered as the second sporting event in Africa after the football CAN, for economist Mohsen Abdel Fattah, they are still struggling to reach their full potential in financial and marketing terms. There is almost no data published on previous editions. This does not allow us to see the evolution in generation of revenue.

The 13th African Games, a multi-sport event which has taken place on the continent every four years since 1965, takes place in Ghana from March 8 to 23, 2024. If we can consider them as the second event…

Interview

African Games: “Few countries are applying to organize them”

The 13th African Games, a multisport event which has taken place on the continent every four years since 1965, takes place in Ghana from March 8 to 23, 2024. If they can be considered as the second sporting event in Africa after the football CAN, for economist Mohsen Abdel Fattah, general director of the African Sports & Creative Institute (ASCI), however, they are still struggling to reach their full potential in financial and marketing terms.

Interview.

The Ghana team reacts after their victory in the men's 4x100m relay at the 12th edition of the African Games on August 28, 2019 in Rabat.

AFP - FADEL SENNA

By: David Kalfa Follow

RFI: Mohsen Abdel Fattah

can we consider the African Games as the second largest sporting event on the continent after the men's African Cup of Nations?

Mohsen Abdel Fattah:

Yes, and on certain elements, we could even consider them as the first event, the biggest African event.

The first element is in terms of size: the number of athletes which is much greater.

In Ghana, nearly 5,000 athletes from around fifty countries and 2,000 volunteers are expected.

In Morocco, during the previous edition, there were more than 6,000 athletes.

There will also be 29 disciplines this year.

The second element is the connection with the Olympic Games, given that like the Asian Games and the Pan American Games, the African Games are recognized by the International Olympic Committee.

There is a strong commitment from the African Union which is the owner of the event, which works with the Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa (Acnoa) for the marketing and commercial side, and the Union of Sports Confederations African (UCSA) for the technical side.

This link with the Olympic Games means that in several disciplines, a performance would qualify for the Paris Olympic Games.

[…]

The third element, I think, is that it is a giant showcase for the promotion of sports practice in Africa.

It's very, very powerful.

It is also a laboratory in preparation for major intercontinental events, since Africa has already organized the football and rugby World Cups.

Senegal will host the Youth Olympic Games in 2026 and Morocco will co-host the FIFA World Cup in 2030. […]

These African Games will also promote sports that are little practiced on the continent.

For example, cricket which will be an official sport there for the first time.

There will also be arm wrestling.

But also demonstration sports, such as MMA.

This is also interesting, because a former heavyweight world champion is from Cameroon, Francis Ngannou.

This combat sport has great potential in Africa.

[…] And there will also be sambo, which is a traditional Russian martial art.

It perhaps also shows a new direction in terms of cultural policy.

We should also note the integration of e-sport, electronic sport, a market that is exploding globally.

But Africa does not represent more than 2% of this market with around 250 million gamers (according to the international federation).

On the other hand, there is an element which is not yet explored and which could be: it is the integration of African sports, born in Africa.

For example, we could have Senegalese wrestling or dambe which is Nigerian boxing.

And, if we think of the chess which features in these African Games, why not awélé, which is a game widely played in Africa?

Also readSports: will the African Games be worth it for Ghana?

What do the African Games represent in terms of economic and marketing weight?

There is almost no data published on previous editions.

This does not allow us to see the evolution in the generation of revenue from these Games.

What I also notice is that there are few countries applying for their organization.

We are in the 13th edition and four countries have already organized the African Games twice: Algeria, Congo-Brazzaville, Egypt [Cairo must host the 2027 edition, Editor's note] and Nigeria.

That is to say, the countries are not jostling each other.

And even Ghana – which is hosting this event a year late, among other things with the impact of Covid –, despite this delay, must scale back.

Certain disciplines will welcome fewer participants than expected […], which creates a big disappointment and a big tension between the different federations.

Third thing, I think that this event will certainly have a lesser impact than previous editions for two reasons: lack of preparation and lack of popular enthusiasm.

Ghana has been a democratic model on the continent for around thirty years, one of the few that has had several smooth presidential transitions.

It is also a country which has also grown steadily from an economic point of view, a country which has a particular link with the United States and which benefits from a lot of investment.

But, for two years, Ghana has been experiencing a very difficult economic crisis, particularly with inflation of more than 40%.

This crisis pushed the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to release an emergency fund of 3 billion dollars.

So it’s a very difficult context.

[…]

In Ghana, many people wonder if this is money well spent when the country is struggling so much.

This is an element that could impact Ghanaians' support for this event.

Concerning sponsors, there is almost no information published.

The official sponsors revealed are the airline Africa World Airlines, the oil company Ghana Oil, NHIS which is the equivalent of health insurance.

These are all Ghanaian and state-linked organizations.

The only foreign company is Newmont, which is an American company specializing in the extraction of gold (one of Ghana's big resources).

[…] And when we go to the sites of these sponsors, we see that they do not communicate about the Games, to promote their brand, to create a link with their employees and their partners, to launch initiatives.

Really nothing seems to be done.

We therefore really wonder about the solidity of these sponsors.

The only two organizations that I have seen communicating around these Games are Absa Bank and Mastercard.

Two large companies which invest a lot in employability in Africa and which, there, have financed an initiative on employability through sport.

It's really very skinny.

For me, the only glimmer of hope is this trend of growing interest from sports fans around the world in African athletes, like Francis Ngannou, the footballers Mohamed Salah or Sadio Mané, the basketball player Joël Embiid, as well as with regard to competitions in Africa.

We saw the enthusiasm for the last CAN.

These are positive elements which could give this competition a chance.

Also read: Mohsen Abdel Fattah: “The sports economy represents an opportunity for Africa”

African Games: “Few countries are applying to organize them”

African Games: “Few countries are applying to organize them”

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