ASC’s African Football Marketing Webinar panellists Senzo Mbatha, Zarina Bahdur and Akofa Hanson believe African football leagues have the potential to catch up with their European and American counterparts but stress the gap can only be bridged by a wholistic re-examination and upliftment of the basic indicators necessary for growth.

The trio were speaking as round-table members at the African Football Centre’s football marketing webinar on the theme “African Football Leagues: Local Alternatives or Global Competitors?” on March 17, 2022.

The event was a follow-up to the ASC’s November webinar on “Consumer behaviour, preferences and revenue opportunities in the Ghana Premier League”, a gathering which had Johan Cruyff Institute online learning manager Lukas Dorda, Asante Kotoko SC chief executive officer Nana Yaw Amponsah and ASC chief executive officer Prince Narkortu Teye as round-table panellists.

 “We need to agree that you cannot put our league to a level where we start to see it as a competitor in the global space. We should be comfortable for now to be sitting as an alternative to what the global players are,” Mbatha, CEO of Tanzanian side Young Africans (Yanga) SC and former CEO of rival club Simba SC, said at the event hosted by Ghanaian football commentator Philip Sitsofe Atsrim.

“You know it has to do with the product itself; the quality of the players, the quality of football, the quality of broadcast and the quality of marketing elements that come with the product. Because let’s not forget that people are consuming a product.

“In my view, I think it is important to acknowledge that, yes, football is followed on the entire continent, but the most followed one is the one that is solid and creative, which is the European one.”

GOAL Africa general manager Bahdur highlighted some key elements necessary for development.

“In order to make money from a fan, you need to understand emotions because the reality is that no matter what, football is about your emotion. Everyone has a reason for starting to follow a certain club,” she said.

“To be able to connect with the people and community, you need to be in touch with the people and community and look at the whole community requirements, especially if it’s a smaller club, engaging the fans on that level, creating that story, creating memories and opportunities. That’s the easiest point of connection where people will start spending money.”

With stiff competition for the eyeball of the African populace, there have been suggestions for a limitation or ban on foreign football leagues on African television platforms.

Startimes Ghana head of marketing Hanson, however, has doubts about the approach.

She explained: “I don’t think restriction is a solution, I mean, in this day and age I can have access to whatever league I want to watch in the palm of my hand on a device somewhere or an app.

“I can watch the EPL, the Bundesliga or whatever it is that I want. So restricting access to foreign leagues on local free-to-air stations is not the solution. I will still go for aggressive branding of the local leagues.

“If the leagues are branded properly and marketed properly and made accessible to the local people, I think that will help. I don’t think restricting foreign leagues will help anybody here.”

The ASC is an African organisation committed to championing the use of scientific and technical methodologies and innovations for the development of sports, largely by data, research and technology (DR&T) in an integrated approach.

A full video of the webinar session is available on YouTube.