Russia confronts little enmity from African leaders, many of whom have convened in St. Petersburg for the Russia-Africa summit where several top footballers are expected to play a gala match together, despite being diplomatically isolated as a result of the Ukraine conflict.
They include Melvin Camden, who is appreciative of the chance.
“I would like to start by thanking you for issuing visas to us, so that we could participate in the championship,” he says.
“That is to say, they still love Africans and they want to ensure that we are united together.”
Despite being barred from all significant international events, Russia has organised an intercontinental student tournament alongside the summit.
William DeAnda, the coach of the Cameroon international student team, believes that cooperation between the nations is beneficial.
“The population of Africa needs a good relationship between Africa and Russia because it is more practice,” he says. “It is more real than the other colonial relationship that we have with countries in Europe or America.”
A discussion on utilising sports to build bridges of goodwill between Russia and Africa is part of the forum’s opening day.
The World Friendship Games, a sporting event planned for September 2024 by Russia, will also be on display at the forum.
Andrey Stukalov, president, National Student Football League says: “This is a good platform to revive international competitions, so we decided to start with Africa.
“We decided to invite these four African universities, I think that in the near future we will consider a similar version of the Russia-Asia, Russia- Latin America meeting, and it will be just as interesting. And so we could gradually resume that influence and that activity internationally that we had before Covid.”
A diplomats’ competition between staffers from the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and African embassies will also be part of the St. Petersburg sports schedule.
