If there isn't public support, clubs in Africa are likely to disappear. How can football thrive in regions like Algeria?

Hello! Welcome back to?PITCHSIDE MONITOR,?your one stop guide to club management.?This week we will:

• Look at football development globally, in particular, we will focus on the North African football ecosystem
• Hear from Nazim Bessol
• Have a look at the evolution of the source of players for North African World Cup squads over the years

First up, is our section on club management.

After spending the last couple of newsletters focussing on football in Europe, this week, we would like to invite your attention to football development globally, and venture beyond the home comforts of UEFA. The topic for this week is a geographical area that we have already referenced in our previous newsletter: the North African football ecosystem.

For pretty much anyone who can trace their football roots back to the 1990s, this is a part of international football that will be synonymous with the exciting and exotic national teams particularly of Morocco and Tunisia, which have been the main flag carriers for the region in the FIFA World Cups of the last three decades. The region itself, however, is much more than that, and has a complex and well-embedded football structure that travels much deeper. As the nature and scope of the global football industry evolves, with the emergence of new business models and new power axis, this provides not only a great opportunity for the North African football ecosystem to refresh its USP, but also creates the conditions for significant challenges and loss of status, should the local football industry not find enough internal and external resources to evolve with the times.

Traditional Powerhouses

The five associations that make up the UNAF regional grouping within the Confederation Africaine de Football (CAF), have been the major powerhouses in African football, dominating the national team and club competitions at CAF level, and acting as the torch bearers of African football at the global stage.

The region itself is fairly compact, straddling the northern part of Africa from the Sahara to the southern shores of the Mediterranean sea, and has not only lot of shared historical experiences and traits, but also represents very defined and proud countries with significant social and economic potential. In terms of raw potential, based on demographics, Egypt is clearly the dominant country, but in terms of football results this is not so straightforward, as can be seen in the table above.

At the domestic CAF level, Egypt certainly has made significant achievements in men’s football since the 1990s, with the highest number of AFCON and CAF Champions League wins. But if we take into account the population, Tunisia seems to have overachieved, with its club results and also World Cup participations, whilst Morocco has reached unprecedented heights for an African nation with its top-4 finish at the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 , and also has been an active host of international football tournaments like the FIFA Club World Cup, bravely venturing under the global limelight.

Current Challenges

One of the issues we touched in a recent edition of our newsletter, on the Arab Club Cup, was the shifting power balance in Arab football, where the focus has been moving from North Africa and towards the Gulf states and the Arabian peninsula, where the likes of Saudi Arabia and Qatar have been very active players on the global football stage with far-reaching strategic projects.

What does this mean for North African football?

Well, despite its so-far dominant position in the confederation, it seems that Qatari and Saudi clubs are increasingly choosing to use the UNAF countries as a source of talents for their own domestic competitions. Our table in the Bottom-49 section of this newsletter, shows the evolution of the source of players for North African world cup squads over the years, and the 'rest of the world' figures almost exclusively represent players in Gulf State leagues including Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and UAE.

This makes complete sense because players from North Africa can be very highly skilled and come from a long-established development tradition, whilst also sharing a lot of cultural affinity for their new host countries.

What seems to be interesting to observe is that, despite being smaller countries, both Morocco and especially Tunisia have been able to focus a lot of effort on being represented at World Cup level and have achieved a lot of success there with a majority of overseas-based players, whilst Egypt, being by far the largest country, has seen a lot more continental success and retains a large proportion of its national team players in the domestic competition. One surprising outlier in terms of results here is Algeria, which, judging by the demographic and economic inputs it has, should probably be achieving more, but may be hampered by certain limitations placed on its clubs in terms of coaching license requirements.

Future Outlook

With a shift in the football business model from attendance-based revenues to media revenues, major clubs in big competitions with top players are becoming more and more important for long-term growth.

The choice for North African clubs, federations and leagues will be whether to accept a role as a talent developer for the new Middle Eastern football powerhouses like they have been in the past, for some European countries such as France and Spain, or build an alternative option where the local competitions (or even a regional competition!) can generate enough resources to allow most of the best players from the UNAF countries to remain at home, playing for the biggest clubs locally rather than having to move abroad to search for a better financial reality.

We are seeing an emergence and consolidation of new important domestic competitions across the world such as the J-League, the Major League Soccer (and don’t forget the new MLS+LigaMX tournament!), the new Saudi project or the re-setting of the Brazilian championship, which means that there will certainly be opportunities to frame the North African football ecosystem in a similar way. The raw ingredients are all there to make UNAF a major powerhouse not only of African but also global football. We will certainly be keeping a keen eye on it!

In our Football Talks section this week, we caught up with Nazim Bessol, Director and founder of the Algerian daily Botola and of footafrique.com. We asked Nazim few questions, and here is what he had to say.

1) The focus of this week's #PitchSideMonitor is Africa. While we cannot cover the rich history of African football comprehensively, we'd like your specific insight into North African football, particularly Algeria.

I'll generally address the Maghreb region. While the dynamics slightly differ from one country to another, the foundational idea remains. Aside from Egypt, if there isn't public support, clubs are likely to disappear. This is evident in Algeria, Tunisia, and Morocco. Most financial contributions come from large public corporations, either directly or indirectly. In general, there's a significant amount of public funding. It's rare to find a club that's entirely private or mostly privately funded. For example, in Algeria, what we call "bicephalisme" exists, indicating a duality. We currently have 16 professional clubs, which was expanded from 32 when professionalism began in 2010. These clubs have historical affiliations. For instance, Mouloudia Club d'Alger established in 1921, represents the historical aspect and holds the emblem, colours, and both tangible and intangible heritage of the club.

2) Can you elaborate on this concept of “bicephalisme”?

If we estimate a club's value, say at approximately 10 million euros, the amateur club would typically hold around 7 to 8 million euros, which is about 70%. This "duality" might be a source of financial stability, but it also creates many disagreements. If there's a dispute, it affects the club's operations, leading to regular changes in direction and certain instability. The challenge with professional clubs is a lack of resources. If funds are halted, clubs like Mouloudia struggle even with simple tasks like paying for travels. When the funds flow, player salaries soar. For instance, Youssef Belaili earns around USD 50,000, which is 400-500 times the lowest salary. SONATRAC backs this, and if we evaluate the input and output, it's imbalanced and in deficit.

3) How do you foresee the Algerian league evolving over the next 5-10 years? Are there any potential changes on the horizon, or will it follow the typical path seen in many Central European countries, where without state intervention, professional sports can't thrive?

Based on current trends, there's an inclination to revert to practices seen in the late 70s to early 80s, which gave rise to the iconic 1982 FIFA World Cup team. Back then, top division clubs were owned by major public entities, and players were employees of these entities. There seems to be a push towards this model again, as major clubs are being taken over by public companies to address management and operational deficiencies. Another significant aspect is the revenue generated from TV rights. Currently, the league isn't marketed internationally, but there's talk of expanding these rights. If implemented, this could restructure clubs. At the moment, there's a speculative bubble. Money is injected, high salaries are paid, but there's minimal revenue. This deficit is absorbed year after year, causing mounting debts. Recent reports and commissions have concluded that this can't continue, necessitating a solution. In the short term, major clubs will be handed over to large corporations, and subsequently, focus will shift to other aspects of the league's operations.

4) As an observer outside the system but within the ecosystem, what makes the Algerian championship generally attractive?

Passion is the foremost factor. Algeria is a football country. This passion might not be evident in the trophy counts of various teams or the national squad, but football is an intrinsic part of our society and culture. Each club represents a region or city and carries historical significance. Clubs were established during the colonial era, many serving as resistance tools against colonisation. Mouloudia, for instance, pays homage to the birth of the Prophet Mohammed and was founded as a counter to the French presence. The club played in leagues where they faced many adversities. This history has fostered a generational loyalty to clubs. For example, in Algiers, the capital, there are 6 to 7 top division clubs. These derbies, like the one between the Union Sportive de la Médina d'Alger (USMA) and Mouloudia, can draw massive crowds or CR Belouizdad (CRB). These clubs symbolise the history and struggles of their regions. This passion, rivalry, belonging, and identification with their club are what primarily drive the league's attractiveness.

5) The Algerian league is somewhat based on the French model. The Algerian football league, Ligue de Football Professional (LFP), operates autonomously, a rarity in Africa. Your thoughts?

Indeed, the LFP is autonomous, especially when it manages and sets the price for TV rights. These are then transferred to the federation, which relays them back to the league. Before the official announcement of professionalism in 2010, the league was called LNF (National Football League). From 2010, it was renamed the Professional Football League. This model has been in place since 2010. In Africa, it's uncommon, but there are countries with similar league structures.

6) Talking about Leagues, which football competitions are the most popular for Algerians?

We follow, because we are here, the CAF club inter-competitions. This means that Algerians, even if they don't actively follow, are interested. They look at team rankings, they check some results, especially when their team plays against another team. Now, speaking of Europe, it also depends on where our players are playing. I believe that this year, Mahrez's departure from City will result in Manchester City losing a lot of viewers in Algeria. We watch the English league, the Spanish league, because we have players in Spain. Once again, an Algerian, I would say, is born with this love for football. We play football everywhere: in the streets, in neighbourhoods, and with the opportunity to watch almost every match in the world on TV, people watch football from morning to night. There isn't a day when a championship is played, even at 10 am, it will be broadcast in cafes even if it's a regular weekday. Sunday in Algeria is not the weekend, it's the first day of the week. So, we see people having a coffee, watching a match and all. I wouldn't say there's a model, but like everywhere, it's the big 4: the English, Spanish, and French leagues. I think the French league comes slightly behind, but it's followed because we have many Algerian players or players of Algerian origin playing in France. We watch and keep up with what's happening because of teams like Espérance de Tunis (TUN), the Wydad (MOR), the Al-Ahly (EGY) as these are clubs we grew up with.

As mentioned in the club management section of this newsletter, in our Bottom-49 section this week, we would like to invite your attention to the evolution of the source of players for North African World Cup squads over the years. The 'rest of the world' figures almost exclusively represent players in Gulf State leagues including Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and UAE.

In our Football Insights section this week, we would like to share the #12QualityAreas we developed for Youth Football, in Arabic. Feel free to get in touch with us, to understand more about how we can improve the youth and grassroots structure at your club.

Our Board Member, Olivier Jarosz will be attending the World Football Summit happening in Sevilla on the 20th and 21st of this month. If you are at the summit, feel free to get in touch with him, to have a fruitful conversation about club management.

Below is a picture of Olivier with Edoardo Cavo and Ramees Basheer from Geneva Business School .

That brings us to the end of this week’s newsletter. We hope you found eye-opening insights from our content this week. Each week, we will be curating exclusive content for you from the club management ecosystem. So, stay tuned for more and don’t forget to subscribe to our newsletter?here!

LTT Sports is an advisory firm focused on connecting football strategy and operations based on experience, analysis and a strong network. At LTT Sports, we have created a set of services for football organisations, providing transversal solutions at any level of the professional football pyramid – to boost performance off the pitch, directly impacting on-pitch results.

*** Disclaimer: LTT Sports is an independent think tank aimed to be a platform of discussion amongst football stakeholders. The answers received for our interviews are personal views of the interviewee and/ or the organisation he or she may represent and strictly do not represent our views on the subject matter.

Contributors to this week's newsletter:?Olivier Jarosz,?Konstantin Kornakov, Fathi Abou El Gadaiel , Anne-Marie Itoua , Yannick Avognon