Playing for Influence: The European Union investment in African Football through the Confédération Africaine de Football

Abstract

The European Union (EU) and the Confédération Africaine de Football (CAF) signed a cooperation and sponsorship agreement in 2024. This agreement was closed through the EU’s infrastructure project the Global Gateway Initiative (GG). Despite the GG being an infrastructure project and allegations against the CAF for fraud and corruption, the EU closed the €5.5 million agreement, claiming to pursue visibility in the African countries. This thesis shows the EU aims to expand its geopolitical influence, prioritises the interests of the biggest European companies and risk reproducing dependency and neo-colonial structures through the GG. The findings are based on Qualitative Document Analysis, Critical Discourse Analysis and a semi-structured expert interview. Building upon state, dependency and decolonial theory the findings explain why the EU invested in African football through the GG, uncovering the structural inequalities of global capitalism.