Jörg Wiegratz is a Lecturer in Political Economy of Global Development at the School of Politics and International Studies, University of Leeds, and Senior Research Associate, Department of Sociology, University of Johannesburg. He is currently guest researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology (Halle/Saale), Department ‘Anthropology of Economic Experimentation’.
He specialises in neoliberalism, fraud and anti-fraud measures, commercialisation and economic pressure, and related aspects of moral and political economy, with a focus on Uganda and Kenya. He is editor of the blog series Capitalism in Africa and Economic trickery, fraud and crime in Africa, co-editor of the blog series Pressure in the City, and a member of the editorial working group of the Review of African Political Economy. He was contributing editor in the project Capitalism in my City.
The commercialisation of football in East Africa: the case of Uganda
The commercialisation of football is a global phenomenon that affects all levels of the game. These developments have raised questions and triggered debates, for example about the impact of corporate forces, actors and approaches on football, both globally and locally. Importantly, the commercialisation of football is not limited to the most resourceful and competitive leagues in Western Europe but affects all regions of the world, including Africa. In pure business terms – local TV revenues, club’s incomes and budgets, or players’ salaries – domestic football in Africa is currently a rather minor component of global football, with relatively low levels of commercialisation until recently. The domestic commercial football scene however is rapidly developing in various countries on the continent, both at amateur and professional football levels. This talk presents data from research into the drivers and characteristics of commercialisation of football in one exemplar country of the phenomenon in the east African region: Uganda. The talk explores questions such as: How is commercialisation being advanced in domestic football? Who are the relevant actors? What are relevant factors, sites, forms and processes? What changes are triggered by the commercialisation of the sector? What is the impact of these processes on sports performance and development?
The remarkable revival of Ugandan football
A blog article by Jörg Wiegratz
