Nigerians in Czech Football: A Tough Road to a Dream

There is not a single Czech Premier League club that does not have a player born in Africa on its roster. But one country rules them all. Thirteen of the sixteen teams sent a man with a Nigerian passport to the match. In total, twenty-one Nigerians participated in the current year. After Czechs and Slovaks, the largest league community.

Football fever has gripped more than one billionaire, and Czechoslovak talent has long ceased to be enough. Buy cheap, sell expensive. Such a policy requires looking beyond the borders of the country and the continent. To Nigeria.

To a country that has over 230 million inhabitants and countless problems. Christians and Muslims live in it, the radical Boko Haram movement is rampant in the north. However, exceptional footballers also grow here. There is an almost endless amount to choose from.

This is where the story of one of them begins. Defender Peter Kareem is fulfilling a dream at Bohemians. He lives a life that is desired by an almost unimaginable number of people in his country. Let’s give him a word:

“It is said that there are 15-20 million football players in Nigeria.

A million here, a million there. After all, we are among the most populous nations in the world, and with records, especially in some parts of the country, it is not so famous. But just try to imagine: That’s more than there are people in the entire Czech Republic. Almost twice as much, actually.

If one were to think rationally, one would see that to succeed in such competition is tantamount to a miracle. Even though there are hundreds of Nigerian footballers playing in Europe, getting among them, drawing attention to yourself and distinguishing yourself from the flood of other guys is basically unrealistic.

At least that’s what my family said.

Mainly the three older sisters who, with my dad and older brother, kept our household going when my mom left us when I was two years old. They claimed that the day I told my dad I wanted to talk. I finished high school and had to start deciding where I should continue. He called everyone together and the debate began.

Or rather, an argument. I have announced that I will not go to any university and I intend to devote myself fully to football.”

The first African player in the Czechoslovak league received a salary of six thousand crowns. In Sparta. Is that ridiculous? In 1990, this was twice the average wage. At Letná, Timothy Mwitwa caught the eye of the legendary coach Václav Ježek.

According to the club chronicles, he was a favorite. Among fans, teammates and employees. He was given the only possible nickname: Mireček. In the end, he played in seven league matches in the red jersey, he also played in the Prague derby.

But he didn’t make it any further. He went back to Zambia and died in 1993 in a tragic plane accident of the national team there. He did not open the door to Czechoslovakia to other Africans, he did not cause any major commotion. He remained a curiosity, an exotic.

Even thirty-five years later, some mechanisms have not changed. Even now, Africans can be bought into Czech clubs for decent money, and like Mwitwa, they can often improve the lives of entire families even with an average salary.

Even Peter Kareem didn’t get an offer he couldn’t refuse in 2023. So from the Czech point of view, the lens of the boy from Nigeria was like this:

„The agent showed me the contract, where, among other things, a salary of 1,000 euros was mentioned. I didn’t even take a quarter in the Nigerian league. I knew immediately that this was the best possible place for me to start a new life and set things right. From where to bounce back to the career I dreamed of and for which I believe I have the skills. I still had no idea if they would even sign me, if I would convince them of my football qualities. But I vowed that I would not return until I signed the contract.

I was willing to die in that Vlašimi field to be taken.

I called my nurses to say I made it. I’m going to Europe. And they thanked God. “See, I told you,” I remarked. In good. Years later, we laughed about what was between us.’

Every football fan from the turn of the millennium will remember the name Kennedy Chihuri.

The offensive Zimbabwean midfielder came to Slavia via Slovakia, but played 196 out of 200 league matches in Žižkov.

And it wasn’t easy. During the matches with Sparta and Brno, bananas and oranges flew onto the lawn. “There was so much that four or five buckets were not enough,” recalled one of the lawn workers in a Czech TV documentary.

The Victorians’ favorite “Kenny” hated it at first, then got used to it. The end of the 1990s was not a time in the Czech Republic when anyone had essential compassion for the victims of racism. “People like bread and games,” stated Žižkov coach Petr Uličný.

And he was having fun having Chihuri on the team. “I asked him if his name was York,” he said, referring to the famous black striker who played for Manchester United. “And he told me no. That he is Kennedy Chihuri. So he has self-confidence. And also an advantage. He knows English, he is smarter than us, we only know the basics of Russian,” he glossed.

Chihuri himself gradually managed to ignore the attacks on skin color. He too has passed through a world we cannot imagine, and Europe was the promised destination for him. As for Peter Kareem.

“When you want to stand on your own two feet and you have nothing, it’s not easy anywhere. And certainly not in Nigeria. You have to be ready to fight. Fight every day. You have to expect that hard times will come. And they did come. Often.

I used to be hungry and I didn’t see any signs of it getting better.

At least I had a place to live to begin with. A teammate from my team at the time offered to stay with him for a while in the suburbs of Lagos. Together we went to the playground for long hours on foot, because we had no transport. So if we didn’t want to beg.

And yes, we did that too.

Sometimes we begged passers-by for money, in shops for a little food. When people complained about how much we allowed ourselves, we explained that we were football players and needed to eat. It wasn’t possible to save enough money for equipment anyway. For football boots, clothes. That’s why we tried to get older teammates as much as possible. Sometimes, if we didn’t beg someone, we wouldn’t even have a match to play in. We wore various borrowed, old things. Our families simply couldn’t afford any of it.”

Coach Uličný hit on one more truth in his observation from the turn of the millennium. Africans from countries with a British colonial past have an advantage in English language skills. This is also why Nigeria is better for the Czech market than the French-speaking parts.

Africans are no longer exotic, they have long been primarily an investment. The most expensive departure from the Czech league? He is no longer a domestic talent. Senegalese winger El Hadji Malick Diouf left Slavia for West Ham United for 25 million euros.

The Africa Cup of Nations starts on Sunday, and in addition to the stars of the Premier League, Serie A or the Bundesliga, four representatives of the Czech league can also take part in it. Igoh Ogbu (Slavia/Nigeria), Santiago Eneme (Sparta/Equatorial Guinea), Aziz Kayondo (Liberec/Uganda) and Benson Sakala (Bohemians/Zambia) were nominated.

Back to Nigeria. Ten years ago, two of its players entered the Czech league, five years ago there were five, and now there are twenty-one. For each of them, it’s a win in a match involving twenty million boys with the same dream.

“I stayed in Vlašim. I played a few preparatory matches in uncertainty before the coach called me saying that he liked my game and wanted me to sign.

For me this, just this short interview meant everything. It was a confirmation that I am a good player who can make it outside of Nigeria.

As soon as I added my signature to the contract in the president’s office, I cried. Right there on the spot, I was overcome with emotion. It was a big day for me, but I still felt sad. I put my pen down and tears welled up as my first thought went to my dad.

To dad, who could no longer be there. He couldn’t see that I really became a professional footballer.

Since then, everything has only been going up. It’s just about me. About what I will show on the field. And as you probably understood, this is the smallest obstacle I have ever had to overcome. I just play as if every match should be the last.’

The Bohemians defender changed his life and that of his family. He doesn’t have to beg for food, sleep on an empty stomach. However, the goal of Czech club owners is higher. Find another diamond among Nigerians or other Africans. Another Diouf worth half a billion crowns.

Already www.bezfrazi.cz you will find more than 350 other authentic stories of sports figures, many of which can be listened to in audio versions narrated by leading Czech actors.