Strongly linked to my work on irregular mobilities and uneven development has been scholarship on the migration of African footballers. This has culminated in a critically acclaimed book – I’ve always wanted to say that! – with my friends and colleagues Dr Paul Darby and Dr Christian Ungruhe.
African Football Migration: Aspirations, Experiences and Trajectories
African Football Migration: Aspirations, Experiences and Trajectories was published by Manchester University Press in 2022. In the book, we explore the dreams and journeys of young African men inspired by football icons like Samuel Eto’o, Didier Drogba, and Mohamed Salah, who aspire to achieve social mobility through football migration. Drawing on over a decade of ethnographic research, we chronicle their aspirations, experiences, and the often-challenging paths they navigate. Along the way, we uncover the web of actors, networks, and institutions shaping their opportunities within football’s global production network, offering fresh insights into the intersection of migration, sport, and social mobility.
You can read and download the book for free via this link Darby et al. (2022) African Football Migration. This is thanks to generous support from the School of Geography at Queen Mary University of London, the Open Access Publication Fund of University Library Passau, and the Habilitation Fund of the University of Passau.
Audio & video resources
A podcast hosted by Dr. Miranda Melcher, where we discuss African Football. In this episode, we considered why and how African youth and young men have become key players in the global football industry, revealing the implications of both imagined and realised migration. We also talked about the barriers to social mobility created by neoliberal capitalism and how aspiring African footballers navigate these challenges.
A video recorded discussion of the book African Football Migration, Aspirations, Experiences, and Trajectories on the Sports Africa Network with the authors Darby, Ungruhe and Esson. The Moderator/discussant was Dr Mari Haugaa Engh.
Collaborative studies
My work on children’s rights in football, funded by UNICEF, has focused on two key projects. The first involved mapping and identifying child rights issues in football, revealing how the sport’s regulatory frameworks and commercial practices inadvertently yield consequences that operate against the best interests of children. The second project provided a guide for clubs on best practices for realising children’s rights. These collaborative studies, conducted with Dr Paul Darby, Dr Serhat Yilmaz, Dr Carolynne Mason and Dr Eleanor Drywood, advocate for practices that realise and protect children’s rights. The findings can be found in the articles and reports below
James Esson 