The Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) finals were an exotic trip and a bit of a busman's holiday thirty years ago. There were just eight teams, and the majority of them congregated at a single hotel, sitting around the pool when not competing or training and socialising at the lunchtime buffet.
There were always a few scouts on hand as well. At a time when European leagues were modernising their regulations on the usage of international players and the market was opening up for the top of African footballers, the event was quickly becoming a ready supply of intriguing talent.
Only a few of foreign-based players competed at the 1992 finals in Senegal, when South Africa was welcomed back into the Confederation of African Football (CAF) at the pre-tournament Congress.
But, even back then, there were European-born players playing in the competition, including two Algerians and Nigerian fullback Reuben Agboola.
He was born in Camden, London, to a Nigerian father, and his surname had alerted the Super Eagles to his ties to the nation as he rose through the levels of English football with Sunderland and Swansea City.
He was an unusual inclusion to the competition, along with Ali Bouafia and Liazid Sandjak.
But there was no indication that the trio would be the forerunners of a phenomenon that now dominates the African game and would be visible in the 2019 Cameroon finals.
The 33rd edition of the continental tournament begins on January 9, 2022, in Cameroon, and will include European-born players. The French refer to them as "bi-nationaux" — players born to African parents who have benefited from the European development system, where coaching, facilities, and opportunity offer them a considerable edge over their African counterparts growing up.
Over the decades, northbound migration has produced a generation with one foot on each continent... therefore, in football terms, a large pool of ready-made talent from which African national teams may draw.
Many aggressively court players in the diaspora, with scouts attempting to encourage them to play.
The majority of "bi-nationaux" are players who have a one-time opportunity to play international football for their native country in Europe. They are far more likely to be capped by their African nation of origin and may be readily convinced by the prospect of competing in a Cup of Nations finals, or even better, the World Cup.
On rare occasions, there has been a tug of war for great talent, such as Morocco defeating the Netherlands over Hakim Ziyech.
It can be a choice between the heart and practicality. Andy Delort, a French-born player, elected to play for Algeria a few months before the 2019 continental championships, despite being well into his Ligue 1 career.
They were keen, too, on the striker and because his mother was Algerian, he was quickly naturalised in time to be selected for the tournament. “Life is complicated, we discover each other a little later. It’s a personal decision. I want to wear the Algeria jersey,” Delort said at the time.
With him in their ranks, the 23-man Algerian squad that won the last Cup of Nations in Egypt had 14 French-born players and nine home-born.
Both Algeria and Morocco boast some of the best local leagues in Africa, yet there is rarely a player from a home club in the team these days.
The Francophone sides, particularly Senegal, are increasingly moving in the same direction. Guinea and Mali have no "locals," while Ghana and Nigeria are increasingly looking for players among their sizable emigrant communities in the United Kingdom, Germany, and the Netherlands.
However, while many of Africa's major competitors benefit from this source, the impact on some of the continent's smaller countries has been even more pronounced.
The Cape Verde Islands and Guinea-Bissau are two former Portuguese territories that competed in continental qualifications on an irregular basis in the 1990s. They frequently lacked the resources and personnel to compete in World Cup or Cup of Nations qualifying.
However, this is the third time in the last decade that both have qualified for the Cup of Nations finals in a stunning rise up the African football success ladder, primarily as a result of effectively combing the world for talent to build their national squad.
The bulk of the squad members for both nations were born to parents who left the colonies to work in Portugal. However, Cape Verde has a sizable presence in the Netherlands, particularly in the areas surrounding Rotterdam's harbor.
Several of their regulars are now Dutch-born and struggle to communicate with their teammates.
Guinea-Bissau also boasts a French-speaking community, who used to travel through neighboring Senegal before crossing the Mediterranean.
The most amazing pool may be found in Marseille, where a huge migrant community from the Comoros Islands has formed over the years.
While it does not compare the million-strong population of the Indian Ocean island archipelago, it is large enough to offer the backbone of crucial players who have helped the little country qualify for its first Cup of Nations finals.
Coach Amir Abdou hails from Marseille, and his first objective when he took over the position eight years ago was to get players from the diaspora to join the squad, gradually raising the level from amateurs to players playing in the top three categories of French football.
“It was difficult, but I don’t think any of them regret a thing,” recalls Abdou. “This is a fervour, a love for the jersey and for the homeland.”
Abdou dedicated as much effort to coaching and preparing for internationals as he did to arranging travel and even the team's equipment. He had to go into his own money to help with logistics on occasion, and he worked part-time until 2017, when an offer of a meager monthly wage of 2,000 euros provided him enough freedom to leave his position working at Agen's youth services.
The scouts, on the other hand, have served their purpose and are long gone. By the time the players reach the Cup of Nations finals, they have already been identified and accepted into the professional ranks.