After 18 years on the outskirts of African football, Eritrea’s National Team (nicknamed “the Red Sea Camels”) made a statement return this international break to beat Eswatini twice in an early domestic qualifying round. The 4-1 aggregate win enabled the Eritreans to continue their march towards a possible spot in the AFCON 2027 finals, and bring joy to both a heavily repressed domestic populace and a large diaspora stretching all the way from Sydney to Stockholm.
Ever since Eritrea gained independence from Ethiopia in 1993, the small country on the Red Sea coast has never qualified for an AFCON tournament. After a strong qualifying run in 2008, the nation’s football federation has either not entered or withdrawn from every single qualification since. A large reason for such an absence from the international stage is the political fear of player defections when playing abroad — the young nation’s heavily militarised and closed down one-party state has earned it the nickname “the North Korea of Africa.” Since 2007, some 80 Eritrean footballers have absconded from their country while travelling internationally. Now, however, under the leadership of Egyptian veteran defender Hesham Yakan, the Red Sea Camels have returned to qualifiers with a squad of both home grown and diaspora players.
Hammarby IF midfielder Tesfaldie Tekie is one of many diaspora Eritreans to join the new and improved Red Sea Camels. He shared his jubilation over getting a chance to represent his home country on a post on Instagram: “This is for every Eritrean. For the ones back home. For the diaspora. For everyone who never stopped believing […] they told us we were forgotten but we’re only getting started.”
While Eritrea is far from a free and fair nation for its citizens, national sports teams can be used as a tool of government, every football fan in the world deserves to feel represented on the global stage. They too have a right to shine and not be forgotten. The Eritrean diaspora is also especially politically fragmented and suspicious of one another. Eritreans are in need of unifying forces, and the Red Sea Camels can serve that exact role. Some may argue that dark times make playing football trivial — I say dark times can prove to be when we need football the most.
“Joko Keren Stadium” by D-Stanley is licensed under CC BY 2.0.