For millions of African football fans, the weekend ritual looks much the same: screens tuned to European stadiums, English commentary filling living rooms and taverns, and the local league relegated to the margins. That familiar viewing habit sat at the heart of a pointed conversation in Accra, Ghana, where the 5th African Football Business Summit argued that the continent’s devotion to the game could, and should, be paying off for African communities themselves.
The summit, held recently under the theme “From Vision to Value: Building a Sustainable Football Economy in Africa,” was organised by The Football Foundation for Africa. Its central message was direct. African football is not merely a sport but a massive economic opportunity waiting to be unlocked, and governments and leaders must now work to turn that passion into profit.
At the centre of the argument stood the audiences themselves. Africa’s viewers, summit speakers noted, are currently dominated by foreign sports broadcasters, particularly the European leagues. Fans who fill stadiums and fan parks for their own national competitions are, on television at least, watching someone else’s game.
Brain Wesaala, founder and president of The Football Foundation for Africa, put the problem bluntly. “Africa at the moment is struggling for an audience with primarily European football,” he stated. “You know, we are not watching our own football, and these are things that, as much as we want to, you know, challenge, it’s not easy because these were policy decisions that were made; all of our talents are showing: the Champions League, the EPL.”
That reference to African talent appearing in European competitions carries particular weight for fans and families who follow local players abroad while their domestic leagues struggle for screen time and sponsorship. Wesaala called on African governments and football federations to enact policies that support local broadcasters, arguing that televising more domestic games is crucial to building strong, commercially successful competitions capable of generating revenue across the continent.
He was candid about how difficult the correction would be. The imbalance, he acknowledged, traces back to past decisions that allowed foreign competitions to capture the local market in the first place. Reversing it cannot happen overnight.
“Reversing that is going to be very difficult, but we need to at least reduce this consumption throughout,” Wesaala said. “It should be very expensive, for example, for people to air foreign football in Africa, and our broadcasters, our media, should be, not really forced but incentivised, to televise more of our football, because that is what will drive revenue and that is what we can invest to make our football better.”
His proposal speaks to a complaint familiar to any supporter of African club football: the European product simply looks better on screen. Wesaala did not dismiss that frustration. Instead, he emphasised that quality can only improve when investments are made locally. For fans, that means the choice between polished foreign broadcasts and homegrown leagues is not a fixed condition but the result of policy and money, both of which can change.
The prescription is essentially economic. Make it more costly to broadcast foreign matches while giving local media stronger financial reasons to show domestic games, and the money generated from Africa’s own audience could flow back into African football, funding better competitions and, ultimately, better football for the people watching.
Since its launch in 2022, the annual African Football Business Summit has brought leaders together to tackle the full range of challenges facing the game, from grassroots talent development to stadium infrastructure. This year’s edition framed those issues as one connected question: who benefits when Africa watches football?
By encouraging media platforms to prioritise local games, organisers believe African football can transform from a popular pastime into a thriving economic powerhouse. For the fans, families and communities whose passion sustains the game, the stakes are straightforward. The same devotion they give to foreign leagues could, with the right policies, build something of their own.