For King Faisal, a 20-year-old winger from Ghana, the invitation to move to Brazil to play football is easily summed up: "It was a dream." "I believed when I came here, it would help me change the life of my family and many other people," he told AFP in Sao Paulo. For the past year and a half, he has been playing on the under-20s squad for Sao Paulo FC, one of South America's most prominent clubs.
He and a small number of other Africans are today tearing across pitches in Brazil, a country known as the biggest producer and exporter of footballers in the world, from Pele to Neymar. For at least one, though, the transformative opportunity has also been tinged by racism. In Brazil, an incubator for star players bought up by Europe's moneyed elite clubs, the benefit in return is new blood for its lower divisions, with players who are fiercely committed.
The Africans also are paid less than footballers from neighboring Argentina and Uruguay. And European sides also are increasingly showcasing talented African players, burnishing their appeal and helping demolish longstanding barriers in Brazilian clubs against foreign talent. "It's about intensity," said Ricardo Manfrim Goncalves, of the Quality agency representing players.
"They are going to commit more than what even a Brazilian player will." The agent said the young African players -- usually strikers -- are frequently not of interest to the European clubs, and are seen as contributing to offset what he called a "decline" in Br.
