When Football Leads.....

By A. Abeku Haywood-Dadzie

I have a dream that one-day the definition of nations would not be defined by geographical borders

On June 12, 1987, the late president of the United States of America, Ronald Reagan, delivered what is now known as the "Berlin Wall Speech." Reagan’s request to Mikhail Gorbachev, the then General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, was simply for him to demolish the Berlin Wall, which had separated West and East Berlin since 1961. Reagan’s speech can be summed up in these few words: "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall." Fast-forward. on June 13, 1990, Reagan’s wish was granted, and the demolishing of the Berlin Wall began. Surprisingly, since the era of Gorbachev’s Perestroika and Glasnost, the world has been shrinking constantly and getting smaller.

A major causal factor for the world’s shrinking has been technological advancement. Today, technology is uniting the world like never before. It is transforming the world into a community with no borders, shattering previously unbreakable and impenetrable geographic barriers, bringing the world together more than ever before, and making it smaller and more accessible every day.

Apart from the unintended consequences of the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States, which resulted in the division of the Korean Peninsula; the disintegration of Czechoslovakia—the "Velvet Divorce" (Rozdlen eskoslovenska; Rozdelenie esko-Slovenska in Czech and Slovak); and the disintegration of Yugoslavia along ethnic and historical lines (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, and Slovenia). Regional and international organisations like the United Nations have succeeded in preserving world peace and security, fostering goodwill among nations, and advancing socioeconomic progress, higher living standards, and human rights.

It is imperative to note that whereas politicians and technocrats have failed miserably in bringing the world together, sports, particularly football, have excelled in tearing down national borders and walls. Aside from the social media bigotry directed at the three players who missed the penalty kicks in the Euro 2020 final, France can testify to the gains in "unity in diversity" with their two World Cups, one in 1998 and another in 2018. This was the result of tearing down barriers.

Even though we are living in uncertain times filled with conflicts and global crises, sports, especially football, have a way of tearing down walls across and among nations. It’s only in sports, especially football, that you find brothers playing against each other and representing different nations. Over the years, football has seen many of these pairs of siblings represent different national teams; they fight on the field during playing time and hug each other after. Examples of these players abound: Taulant and Granit Xhaka play for Switzerland and Albania, respectively; Rafinha and Thiago Alcantara play for Spain and Brazil, respectively; John and Archie Goodall play for England and Northern Ireland, respectively; and Christian and Max Vieri play for Italy and Australia, respectively.

On June 23, 2010, Germany and Ghana took to the pitch for a group-stage match at the 2010 World Cup in Johannesburg, South Africa. This was a one-of-a-kind event in World Cup history, especially in terms of sibling rivalry in sports. Representing Germany was Jér?me Boateng, and on the other side was Ghana’s, Kevin-Prince Boateng. But history may repeat itself in Qatar, and we may witness another sibling rivalry in case Ghana happens to meet Spain during the World Cup in Qatar. Spain's Nico Williams and Ghana's Inaki Williams will then go down in World Cup history as the second set of siblings to compete against each other at that level.

Sport, In that case, football may not stand on the platform to shout, "Tear down the walls," but football has the power to bring people together to cross borders, unite, and celebrate together. Football unites the world and tears down walls.

If you don’t believe it, ask the current president of Liberia, George Weah, which team he would be supporting when his son Timothy Weah is playing for the US and they face an African nation.