The Strange Death of Eritrea's National Football Team

Despite being the lowest-ranked team heading into the 2019 CECAFA Cup, Eritrea beat East African rivals like Burundi, Djibouti, and Kenya en route to the final, which constituted their best ever performance in Africa's oldest football tournament.
It was a historic achievement - but Eritrea's men's team haven't played a competitive fixture since that tournament, or a game of any description in more than four years.
In this video, HITC Sevens takes a look at what has happened to Eritrea's national football team, where they've gone, and what their disappearance tells us about the country as a whole.
My Social Links:
Linktree - linktr.ee/alfieph
Twitter @HITCSevens - / hitcsevens
Instagram @hitcsevens - / hitcsevens
Other HITC football / soccer / Premier League socials (not run by me):
Facebook - HITCfootball

[@badjujuforever]

MUM put the kettle on, alfie just posted a slightly obscure mini doco on eritrea's missing football team

[@LamdaAlpha65]

Why the world allows such brutal dictators to survive for such a long time? As the report shows, the Eritrean dictator for life leader produces only refugees, poverty and war in the entire negbourhood? More than a million Eritrean refugees are now scattered in Europe, Uganda, Ethiopia, USA, UK, Ireland, Australia, Israel Angola, South Sudan etc...making news every day for very heavy conflicts among themselves in many capitals of the world. What is perplexing is a big junk of those who fled the dictator are now supporting the very dictator. This while receiving an asylum status un Europe, UK, Australia etc... The heavy conflict among the Eritreans in many capitals of the world is based on this differences. Why ask for asylum and then support the dictator? Many Eritreans could not understand it and it is creating a tension in the community. This is a big question for the asylum providing countries as well. Very sad story!

[@robely8711]

Alfie as an ERITREAN and follower of this chanel this is the best analysis about Eritrean football federation and Eritrea as country I have seen. Well done !

[@jonforrester614]

I was surprised & delighted as well when he produced this peace of information in regards of our country. Great job Alfie.

[@gidehabtay]

Same brotha

[@Freeworld-k8r]

True

[@ottomanosman2463]

In Turkey, there is a small group of Eritrean refugees here, mostly live surrounding Istanbul and a smaller group in Ankara. They are also diverse, from Orthodox Christians to Muslims, really feel sorry when Eritrea is governed by a maniac.

[@Lgx-ie4if]

Theres a community in Switzerland too, very overlooked people

[@abasudoh7459]

I knew an Eritrean years ago but back then I didn't know anything about the country. Now I always wonder how she managed to get out.

[@archstanton6102]

There were Eritrean football fans at Philadelphia last yeqr to cheer Isak and Newcastle United on v Villa.

[@arnezargarian4583]

Many Armenians would argue, myself included, that you guys are governed by a genocidal maniac as well (Erdogan).

[@MatheusFernandes-xf4zm]

They are like the zionists, but without American support 😂

[@滋榎本]

Recent years have seen a high number of refugees leaving Eritrea, and some athletes travelling to competitions abroad have taken the opportunity to abscond. In the first round of the qualifiers for the 2018 World Cup, ten players from the Eritrean football team refused to return home after playing a World Cup qualifying match in Botswana and were granted asylum there.

[@Lgx-ie4if]

Yeah theres a lot of them in Switzerland , I grew up with a few

[@bababababababa6124]

They gave us Alexander Isak

[@chechenknightslaillaillall2047]

Same thing in Sweden with these Eritreans.

[@pacyguy7144]

​@@bababababababa6124still not a proper sweed cope more

[@todplatinum5789]

Its actually damning that I'm not finding out about the situation in Eritrea through the news, but through a video by a football youtuber about their national team

[@lhagiduty]

No oil? No freedom for you

[@easyware]

It's in the news.. it has always been in the news. What you consume depends on what you search for. I bet you know more about the Kardashians than about Eritrea. That's no one's fault but yours. The person who did this documentary is human just like you but his interests are clearly different from yours.

[@bigflex1727]

Good point as he mentions. Eritrea don't have natural resources

[@Halcryder]

I know a Chinese acquittance that lived near the border of North Korea that said her parents often spend a weekend in their neighbouring country as a day trip location. The fact that Eritrea seems to be surrounded by enemies points to the fact that they are by far more isolated that North Korea

[@Aeolus_ca]

Peace and harmony is achieved

[@rakification]

@@robelyws Wooow, they are allowed to make calls. What a great country. Just sad, that the country is that porr and authocratic, that it fears to develope internet in order to be able to see a 10 sec video on KZbin. When the arab spring occured, most Eritreans only knew it from their visting diaspora relatives. In the US slavery times blacks also use to have fun festivals, dance and their culture. But still they were enslaved and suffered, but at least they could talk about it while in Eritrea you will jailed if you open your mouth

[@rakification]

@@robelyws I am Eritrean and you’ve never lived in Eritrea. If you consider slavery and Nationalsocialism as an option, then it speaks for itself. The video was correct and also explained the differences in isolation between Nort Korea and erotrea correctly too. When using slavery as a state model it’s not too hard to gain stability. You probably miss also the times when Eritrea was a British and Italian colony

[@rakification]

@@robelyws Theory and reality is a difference. You are not too old and allowed to travel and to live your life. I don't know in which country you live, but it is not in position to held you captive for a cheap excuse of cold war, in which the dictator is even able to make the Hamas like behaving TPLF look like the good ones, which should be impossible. Vacation and growing up in Eritrea is not comparable. Oppressing people for a long time will either result in revolts and meltdown after the death of the at least feared dictator or it will remain such a dictatorship forever like China, Cuba and NK. The difference is though, that even this all mentioned three countries made far more developments than Eritrea. This jabbering of "slow change to more individual freedom" can not be switched from one day to another and after 30 years there wasn't even a try of it and the only reason is not the cold war, which could be managed, it's just power obsession and you fall for it. You can't say a damn word bad about the government after 30 years, in your Logic it means, Eritreans are too retarded to learn how to communicate properly, to be able to make decisions and to be peacefully. If you never learn to argue for the best solution, I'd there is no slice of challenge and self thinking, it won't develope. It's only working with a process and the process didn't even start. You could structure the conscription much better and still keep selfreliant. You could give out micro credits as a try for starting businesses. You could implement a justice system. Eritrea could be a fascinating place of a combination between old culture and modern scientific evolution, but no. It's the same state as 25 years ago. In the best case it will ne start a procewe after the death, but then it's the starting point from 2001. Your biggest mistake, and that's the reason I assume you're not older than 30-35 is, to think that the peace in Eritrea and the lack of greed and crime is caused in the politics. It was the same before Eritrea was independent and Isayas has not only managed to get the roses for it by people like you, but to create an amount of hate in Eritrea, which nobody is able to see in Eritrea for people who do vacation. This hate and anger is now so big that it will explode, so Eritrea is doomed forever to keep people and self-developement oppressed. Also don't compare a country like Ethiopia or US to Eritrea. Different history, culture etc, this doesn't make sense and still you prefer not to live in Eritrea or to raise your kids their whole Life there

[@rakification]

@@robelyws I've literally written a novel as answer and it got deleted... I'm too lazy to repeat it, but: - vacation is not comparable to growing up there. A cold war does not make it ok to held you captive until you're too old to do something. - Oppression leads to hate and anger, which nobody would ever admit in Eritrea. You won't hear anything like that in Eritrea due the fear, but open your eyes. Watch the graffitis at the walls. Remind you the brutally shut down demonstrations which happened and i don't mean the Muslim ones - 30 years! Cold war as excuse for power fetishism. And lack of political competence. Because he doesn't know how to lead a country of self thinking people. He himself thinks that Eritreans are too retarded to be peacefull, patriotic, and able for challenge. -30 years! China, Cuba and even NK had much more development after 30 years. - the myth of "building foundation before more freedom" is a myth, because once you start you still have to learn how to discuss opinions, to challenge, to build up an economy etc. So in the best case they will start after dictatora death. But... - if you opress people too long, hate and anger grows and it will either explode or you have to keep it opressed as it is. Isayas has doomed Eritreas future, the peace you can see now is only a surface due fear - You're not older than 30, perhaps 35. Otherwise you would know that the reason of the strong Eritrean mentality is not created by the system, but despite the system. He has managed to brainwash diaspora Eritreans and even young Eritreans, who eventually flee anyway, that he is the reason for all good things. And the old people don't care because old people always want peace, so they ate fine with the slavery of the Younger people - Eritrea could be a great example of cultural and high modern developments, the potential was higher than now. Now it looks like it is, Russia has to be begged for food, no science, no own cultural development, no economic development, not even knowing how to have opinions and to argue. That has to be learned by people self over decades. But this would mean that people has to be trusted and how you can trust people who developed hate and feel of revenge for not just wasting nearly two generations of life, but for having their brothers, sisters, kids and friends tortured and jailed just for having another opinion. Which you would excuse, since you apparently think, that is somehow needed - if you read history, you should know how hard Oppression goes... but nonetheless, don't take it personally when i don't care for a "good" image when something like fearing for having a sports team causes fear for th dictatorship because of the image of the country🙈

[@oluwatayo.x]

honestly if you made a channel dedicated to documentaries about situations in different countries, i’d watch every episode.

[@seandelap8587]

And i doubt anyone outside Eritrea would ever even have noticed before you made this video

[@mitchellsmith300]

I actually had noticed looking through wcq, saw Eritrea had withdrawn and they weren't on the rankings and I was curious why.

[@lordpelagius5078]

I'd noticed that they were listed below san marino and looked into why and discovered they not played a game in ages

[@diomuda7903]

We are all in the same situation.

[@Lemlem7682]

True, I haven't noticed about Eritrean national football ⚽️ 😳 tean until this video 😂

[@Tomoyo_Sayomura]

Hearing that Eritrean footballers are trying to make it to the national team just so that they can get a chance to play abroad and apply for asylum is wild……… I always find it hard to understand the ultimate goal of these totalitarian leaders. At least some authoritarian leaders claim they are keeping power because it is the people’s choice and they are doing it to build a better future.

[@VelvetMetrolink]

In many parts of the world, authoritarianism is the default. A vaguely functioning democracy has never been on the table. If you have never known any other type of government as even a possibility, isn't it understandable that the only aim would be to be top dog?

[@fresagrus4490]

The case of Eritrea is quite strange and unique. I do recommend you to research it further if you want the answer to your question. It is more that I could write in this comment

[@Freeworld-k8r]

​@@fresagrus4490Yes bro , no one understand us in the world

[@giodhuha6771]

Eritrea did even withdrew from world cup 2026 qualifiers even though CAF already modified the format to include all countries since group stage round.

[@alexjones9038]

just add western sahara or some shit lol

[@gts1300]

​​​@@alexjones9038Their (unrecognized) team actually played a game against Algerian side MC Alger last year. They lost 6-1 but scored a wonderful goal.

[@alexjones9038]

@@gts1300 well thats something, might get hammered 10- 0 all games against the other African nations but marswell chuck them in there

[@archstanton6102]

Sadly there are plenty of Eritreans murdered by their govt.

[@grengren1359]

​@@alexjones9038 eritrea was in Morocco's group

[@muradadam7099]

As an Eritrean I would like to thank you for putting us on the map with your video ❤❤

[@Snodgrass_11]

As an ethiopian and a follower of this channel for long time, I am amazed by both your enthusiam to know about issues westerners wouldn't necessarilly be interested in and the profund researches you conduct to aquire the resources you need for your videos but I'm also dissapointed by your absurd claims about most african and middle east countries disregarding the cultures, norms and psychological makeups of the people living in them. 90% of eritreans live in Ethiopia or other european countries like Sweden and UK . And not only Eritrea but the whole region also has high potential in variety of sports.

[@beno1129]

As an African, I'm not sure what your point is. He hasn't lied about anything he's said. If you are 'disappointed', it should be with incompetent and oppressive leaders in Africa and the Middle East. There's a reason why many Africans, including middle-class people with jobs, are running to live in the Western world. Meanwhile, you don't see people from other parts of the world desperately running to live in Africa and the Middle East. So there's clearly negative socio-economic issues in these regions which should be tackled. The truth is bitter sometimes.

[@gidehabtay]

I’m a 6’5 Eritrean but my parents always promoted school over sports, which is understandable. But maaaaaaaannnnnnnnnn I feel like I could’ve done some type of sport 😭

[@eriboy62833]

Are you wrong or deliberately saying that 90% of Eritreans live in exile? Eritreans in Ethiopia make up less than 1% of the total Eritrean population. The worldwide population of Eritrean refugees is also less than 20% on average, although research is needed. More than 30% of Ethiopians migrated at home and abroad. So don’t pass on misinformation.

[@rakification]

@@eriboy62833 I don't think you know math, must be eritrean school educated. Only able to read and write

[@fraolgudeta2877]

​@@eriboy62833more than 30% of ethiopian live abroad? ethiopian population is 120 mill in your opinion there are 40mil ethiooian diasporas lol. there are atleast 200thousand eritreans in ethiopia if not more. eritreans are everywhere in addis i feel sorry for the situation abt your country but this is the truth

[@lewatoaofair2522]

Good ol’ HITC Sevens: Come for the football, stay for the geopolitics!

[@luishernandezblonde]

I think a video about the ongoing U-23 Asian Cup will be needed due to the political nature there. Indonesia recently shocked everyone by eliminating South Korea, a superpower of Asia, on penalties, and with Iraq and Saudi Arabia possibly joining, a potential winner from either three of them... will be drawn with Israel at the Olympics. None of the trio recognised Israel as a nation and had already joined boycotts over what's going on in Gaza, which mean if Saudi Arabia retained the title or Iraq and even the underdog Indonesia winning it, could result in a Olympic forfeit. In France recently, because of Indonesia's shock results, more and more police and military troops have been deployed to stadiums where Israel is scheduled to play.

[@ourmonarchy326]

Now it is crazy. A potential scenario of Israel facing Iraq, Saudi Arabia or Indonesia at the group stages will be unthinkable if not say unbelievable.

[@wangsengsin2527]

I’m honestly not surprised by Indonesia knocking out South Korea. The national team has been on the rise in recent months, and the Indonesia U-23 side is basically the Indonesia senior team given how young all their players are

[@luishernandezblonde]

@@wangsengsin2527 It's not about eliminating South Korea. It's the possibility of facing Israel if Indonesia continues this dream run. With the Gaza War ongoing, the Palestinian cause ran to the blood of many angry Indonesians, meaning that winning the trophy could bring rather risks instead of triumphs.

[@peruano-quichwa---aymara8611]

Isn't the U-23 Asian Cup also having Uzbekistan participating? Israel also got a draw with Mali. Both Uzbekistan and Mali are Muslim nations if I read right.

[@luishernandezblonde]

@@peruano-quichwa---aymara8611 Uzbekistan practised a different form of Islam that is deeply influenced by Turkic and Timurid mysticism, which found more common with their cousins Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan and Turkey - also Turkic Muslim nations but similarly have diplomatic ties with Israel, so literally Uzbekistan isn't associated much with Palestine. Simultaneously, Mali practise a variety of Islam called Suwarism, which emphasised on pacifism and more into African nationalism (and sometimes included anti-Arabism), which mean Malians could care less about Palestine. Indonesia, Saudi Arabia and Iraq practise a far more orthodox version of Islam.

[@YuuChoobHandle]

Alfie, I love your longer videos. Keep it up. Also, PLEASE cover the story of the England women's world cup team in 1971; the Lost Lionesses. An ultimately sad story, but hugely interesting.

[@philipreid2542]

Aren't they all pretty long?

[@ezraezra2928]

That makes no sense, especially given the fact this team enjoyed a huge success in the international stages, winning the Euro 2022 at home soil and even playing in the World Cup Final for the first time since the men's side did so in 1966.

[@saudiarabiathelandoftwomos4221]

Lots of these Eritreans in Saudi Arabia, many of them Muslims. Feel sorry for them as well. And Alfie, can you make a video about the demise of Kuwait? Once the winners of the 1980 Asian Cup, qualified for the 1982 World Cup, but now their football is just a shadow of former self. They even lost to Indonesia and India, which are historically Asia's weaklings. Their decline is even worse than that of China and I can only feel sad for our neighbour.

[@antarcaesar9836]

FIFA sanctions really hit them hard i would say, Indonesia football was not a powerhouse but at least we are middle ranking teams in Asia but after the chaos of local football since 2012 and sanctions for like 2 years i think, the spirit of football here is dropped significantly, only since last year our national team can bounce back(qualified to asian cup since 2007, 4th place in U23 asian cup) but the league and clubs standard still pretty poor compare to pre 2012. Kuwait itself (cmiw) was not as great as Saudi for example but they're competitive, hope they can become great again.

[@De70222]

From Nigeria 🇳🇬 but I'm shock hearing about this cruelty being melted on a whole populated nation by it leaders 😢

[@shawklan27]

You and me brother

[@Befreedaily]

The whole country is systematically under genocide while the whole world just watching like a circus.

[@ourmonarchy326]

My country was scheduled to play Eritrea in the same group, and it was supposed to be our opening game of the 2026 WCQ, only for Eritrea to surprisingly announced withdrawal. Never mind what's going on with Eritrea, but it is crazy to know that it has been governed by a brutal regime for so long.

[@DanielGooaaall]

Brought plane Tickets to Agadir for nothing

[@jackywackydoodah2821]

Anybody else got fooled by the title thinking that Alfie was going to investigate the 11 players in thumbnail lost their lives?

[@Dyingalone.]

This video is more explaining the death of football in that country. Tbh, their population size (3 Million) is actually enough to make a functioned national football team and federation.

[@hoodie5004]

I just read the tittle and didn’t even start the vid and immediately told my brothers “hey did you know this whole soccer team died ! Like the whole starting squad ! 🤡🤡” Lol. I’m out here giving false information within seconds 😂

[@jarvis911]

Yes very effective click-bait

[@farcydebop7982]

Totally relevant, as he explains how they really escaped death.

[@ysisir11]

Typq shit I'd do😂​@@hoodie5004

[@t1m303]

Fantastic video, it's a shame more people don't know about the general plight of Eritrea

[@AntoniusTyas]

One thing I learned from Alfie's latest video: VATICAN HAS NATIONAL TEAM?!! AND THEY DON'T PLAY WITH ROBE AND STOLA?!! WHAT THE HECK I NEVER KNEW ABOUT THAT! Also, 31:38 brought back that nightmarish public information film from Reporters Without Borders about that exact topics. Journalists being trapped inside shipping containers. Jesus Christ, even searching for the information gave me dread and chill.

[@pjkerrigan20]

Yes, the Vatican does have a team, but they very rarely play. The Vatican teams have usually just been made up of Swiss Guards and other Vatican employees. They’ve mostly just played against the Monaco national team (also not fifa-affiliated) and other microstates, tho they did once play a match against Palestine. It’s funny, Vatican City is so small that their national team doesn’t even play in the country, but quite close by in Rome (tho u can see the basilica from the field)

[@leohmusic8676]

The way you make interesting and entertaining documentaries on history and modern day geopolitics under the guise of simple soccer videos is by far my favorite form of content on youtube. Please never change alfie, you are a benefit to us all

[@brendanbirth4307]

It's wild that I learned about one of the world's most brutal regimes through...a football video.

[@marekdabrowski5799]

I really like how much I learn about other things than just football ... Really good stuff ... Thank you.

[@young_grizzly7948]

Even by Alfie's standards, this is an exceptional documentary. The variety, depth and scope of the topics is outstanding, I can only applaud to this effort 👏

[@djalland1]

Thanks for this video, Alfie. I was browsing the FIFA world rankings a few weeks ago (as you do) and clocked that Eritrea were unranked. I did wonder why, but never followed it up. It's a pretty horrifying situation.

[@gg-pi4mf]

To think that the first videos of urs I saw were those „top 7 in position x“ videos, comparing that to the football journalism this channel has evolved into, bringing light to situations „no one“ has heard of is astonishing, enjoyed every step of that development thoroughly, keep it up alfi

[@Rebelboy20]

Could you please make a documentary about what is happening at Vitesse Arnhem?

[@T.E.S.S.]

yes please

[@MaxLC69]

Zealand made 2 vidéos about it if you are interested

[@akunwanneprosper7016]

He's American ​@@MaxLC69

[@figo007tv]

No

[@vile1685]

1:07 The Eritrean captain who stands furthest to the right in the picture is Henok Goitom, another Swedish-born player with Eritrean parents. Goitom played for a couple of La Liga clubs, such as Murcia and Almeria, before he joined AIexander Isak's boyhood club AIK in 2012 where he played until his retirement in 2021 (apart from two short spells at Getafe and San José Earthquakes in 2016, which actually meant that Isak and Goitom never got to play together as Isak had his break through season for AIK in 2016). Scoring 100 competitive goals throughout his two spells at AIK, he is considered to be one of the greatest AIK players in modern times.

[@Aeolus_ca]

Earthquakes shout ❕

[@DanielGooaaall]

Nice fellow met him in 2019 in namibia.

[@Aeolus_ca]

@@DanielGooaaall they're all nice people!

[@Aeolus_ca]

sk braannn is my dream club to play for

[@seandelap8587]

I didn't know that Italy had that much influence over that region i know that it invaded Ethiopia in 1936 but its rule only lasted for something like 5 years so I'm suprised that there's such a prominent Italian legacy in that country far more than i would have expected

[@AntoniusTyas]

Italy's attempt at invading Ethiopia was a real embarrassment

[@luishernandezblonde]

@@AntoniusTyas That was in the 19th century. In 1936 however, Italy succeeded in conquering Ethiopia and annexed Ethiopia into its territory, meaning only Liberia stands as the last African nation to never be colonised (albeit because of a hilarious reason connected to the USA).

[@hartingtherealone]

Italy successfully colonised both Eritrea and most of Somalia during the late 19th century, during the Scramble for Africa. Their rule over those territories only ended in 1941, once the Allies conquered the italian colonies in East Africa during WW2. Thus, Italy has had about the same impact over Africa as, say, the UK or the french over their own, considering most nations in Africa were decolonised shortly after WW2.

[@FlamingBasketballClub]

@@luishernandezblonde Ethiopia was never colonized. What are you yapping about?

[@luishernandezblonde]

@@FlamingBasketballClub Do you learn history? It was conquered in 1936. And what did you learn?

[@nevinturner-elsbury7049]

being a football and history nerd, your channel is a blessing

[@iandoddsblah]

Just getting started on the vid and can guess it'll be a desperately sad story. I've worked with a lot of Eritrean kids that have come to the UK and it sounds like an abject nightmare to live under that regime.

[@ShpirtSvensson-rm1gr]

Eritreans are the nicest people. 2 of my closest friends are eritrean. I allways get along with eritreans here in sweden. And I never met any Albanians who don't get along with eritreans. There's something that makes us get along with eachother but Idk what it is.

[@heruy8274]

Eritreans are generally very civil socially speaking. When it comes to politics though that is another matter.

[@chechenknightslaillaillall2047]

The same here as a Swedish fellow. Eritreans are nice people.

[@rakification]

As an Eritrean in Germany grown up i agree totally! Wether in Germany or for some years i lived in Greece i felt always close to Albanians. Probably because of some conceptions of outsiders, the need to defend themself without outter help against bigger countries and the diaspora culture, which is probably only similar to Chechenien people. Love to Albania ♥

[@tariqomer4678]

I seeked refuge to Eritrea as a Sudanese person. Used it as a stepping stone so I can get a 9 month stay at Saudi Arabia. And I can confidentally tell you that they are the nicest people ever. Especially at Asmara. I also noticed that they somewhat feel indebted to us because we provided shelter to them during wars. I will always owe not one but hundreds to Eritreans as they made our life there (though shortlived) much easier! Thank you Eritreans!

[@DanielGooaaall]

Eritrean football blogger here. Have been in contact with the federation since over a decade. The president of the FA has blocked me and many many more. Have visited the last qualification match vs namibia and spent with the team in 2019. The federation and the country itself is a mess. Its so sad

[@linsithebe7080]

if you ask the Ethiopians about the Italians, they will tell you they weren't colonized

[@phle7644]

And they are arguably right. Whilst the Italians occupied Ethiopia after the end of the second Italo-Ethiopian war in 1936, this really an occupation and not colonialisation. The Italians never controlled all of the territory, resistance persisted for the whole next four years and by the latter half of 1941, the Allies and the Ethiopian Exile government had deposed them.

[@B3Band]

And if you ask 30 percent of the United States, the 2020 election was rigged and stolen from Donald Trump. People are delusional everywhere in the world.

[@miladeskandari7]

Reminds me of a persian proverb: A mad man sees everyone as insane.

[@blackinton2526]

Because they weren't colonized well unless then you can say Germany colonized France?

[@Befreedaily]

​@@blackinton2526this was in my mind😅

[@fraolgudeta2877]

Describing eritrea as north korea is an insult to north korea.

[@diegomotta209]

Absolute banger. This might be one of my favorite videos you’ve done!!

[@t.gunner]

Everything you said about my country is true sad but true..

[@fetsamiaraya9651]

Thank you for covering our football team. Between the defections (asylum seeking) and our non-existent football association I knew we would withdraw from WC qualifiers. I was surprised they even decided to participate initially. Sadly, our national football team is the least of our concerns.

[@gidehabtay]

I been waiting for this video alphie, thanks for sharing my country sad story 😢

[@stephenkountourou8657]

Congrats on 600k Alfie 🎉

[@yendi4765]

26:49 as soon as i saw the title i spent the whole video waiting for the mention of alex isak as he’s now considered one of the best strikers in the world but very few people realise how he got there.

[@KimiFan2002]

Can we have a vid on what on earth happened to Bursaspor, a club who were playing Man United just over a decade ago, and have now just been relegated to the 4th tier of Turkish football? Also, it’ll be worth covering them just to put the crocodile stadium on the thumbnail😂

[@mrfoofoo69]

Fantastically researched video (as always) Alfie. I live in Africa but knew hardly any of this 😮

[@MrReese]

That is one of the saddest things I have heard in regards to football. Not having a national team anymore, because of the fear of defection. Absolutely insane.

[@MartijnterHaar]

Small correction: just like many English towns, the name of the Dutch city of Gorinchem is pronounced differently than it is written. It's pronounced 'Gorkum'.

[@tarik6990]

You really have a talent and ability to focus on unique football stories that nobody writes or talks about.

[@RyuzakiTaiyou]

Best German players in the premier league of all time. (Day 627) I will not give up until the video is made or Alfie himself tells me to stop. Everyone else telling me that will be ignored. If you don't believe my number, just go back to the previous videos. I'm at the bottom most of the time, but I'm there.

[@Dyingalone.]

That's one of the dedication I saw, pal. Don't give up 🙏🏻

[@FlamingBasketballClub]

Bro really is dedicated 😂

[@argentinamexico3895]

YOU ARE THE MAN OF FOCUS, COMMITMENT AND SHEER WILL!

[@beno1129]

You are a person of formidable will and resilience. You should probably run for president!

[@Punk_Tovarisch]

I wonder what your interest in specifically german players in the Premier League? Why not Dutch for example that were very prominent in the 2000's? Just curious

[@tomharrysson8379]

What a great video, I would pay to listen to your documentaries on anything history related. Doesn't even need to be football

[@agatadjouhri5235]

So happy to see a vid like this my freind is from Eritrea and I’ve always wondered why they haven’t played

[@Will_Shaw_Vols]

I actually did a project about the EPLF for a civil wars class in college. Crazy story about their rise. Very very cool video Alfie. If you’re personally interested in this topic there is a Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front in the Eastern Tigrayan region of Ethiopia that has been trying to do the same thing that Eritrea did since the early 2000s.

[@rakification]

Interesting. Would you consider the political stance by the TPLF towards Eritrea similira to the stance of Hamas to Israel? I always wondering about how not accepting the existence of a state can became a heritage of a culture

[@scottkeir3943]

Great Video as always Alfie Glad someone's highlighting it On point as always

[@LibertepourlesIranienset-kh3ur]

Still waiting for a video about football of my tragic country of Iran, a country that produced a lot of talents yet underperformed in many major tournaments (Asian Cup and World Cup), and how corruption caused by the Islamic Republic ruined our football potential.

[@Bhavesh060309]

Love the history lesson with footy

[@mitchellsmith300]

I noticed about a year ago was always curious thank you.

[@ferinate101]

One of your best, I love it when you incorporate history into your videos like this. Please do Top 7 footballers that succeeded with irregular distinctive physical features (Garrincha's strange legs, Campos only being 5ft 6 for a goalkeeper, possibly Akinfenwa's abnormally large size due to his muscle mass)

[@theshahman2418]

As an Eritrean subscriber thanks for making the video. Our players are basically like the Cuban athletes crazy.

[@tedbyrne88]

Alfie calls it, "who doesn't want to learn more about Eritrea" I forgot I was watching HITC sevens for about 5mins then. Great video

[@Buffalo31]

I've been waiting to find out why they haven't been ranked for months, but didn't realise that I'd learn about the entire history of a country that I've never really ever thought about😮😮

[@tomtomtombossa]

Thank you for the coverage, Alfie. However, football is the least of our worries. We need our basic human rights restored first.

[@Aeolus_ca]

Yes sir!

[@Aeolus_ca]

Yesss!!! This is the one I’ve been waiting for!!!

[@nunobonito5518]

Great documentary (as always), your channel is extremely informative anything footbal related and this is just another example how through the love for this sport, people can find out more about news that usually are not shown in mainstream western media. Thank you for this great piece of journalism!

[@obamaslefteyeball1710]

Really sad that this one had to go for many reasons, one of which that their kits absolutely slap

[@tushyranx5860]

Thanks, Alfie, for putting the Eritreans' plight into perspective 👍

[@qwertyuiop123453993]

great video, this is also quite common in baseball with cuba to an extent (19:01) the thing about cuba though is that in baseball their very very good (the talent that hails from cuba in baseball is akin to the talent argentina produces in futbol) so they're invited/qualified to almost every youth and pro tournament and the government will still allow them to participate in most because they have a legitimate shot at winning them so its very common to see a handful of players to defect through these tournaments everytime they happen. A couple elite prospects have even gone through the process of paying organized crime syndactes to escape the country because of how much they can make in american baseball. perhaps some people might find this interesting.

[@Aeolus_ca]

Why aren’t the players allowed to just go to other countries to play? I Remember when céspedes had a very arduous journey to oakland after he left Cuba then Mexico on his way to mlb. Just curious

[@qwertyuiop123453993]

@@Aeolus_ca I think it has to do with the governments sadly though I do remember a few years ago I think the MLB themselves tabled a resolution for a better immigration policy specifically for baseball players from cuba looking to go to the states but the trump regime didnt allow it to pass but I dont quite remember so my details may be off

[@Aeolus_ca]

That’s sad. I remember the the athletics announced Cespedes, fans started calling him the ‘cuban missle’ 🤣

[@richardloach610]

I don't know why but Alfie could do episodes on pretty much any random subject and it would be interesting to listen to

[@cronoros]

What could have been Eritrean XI

[@declanfrew6958]

Now this is the type of content we're here for

[@davidbowie5023]

Crazy how Eritrea is now unranked and their national team doesn't exist, whereas Cuba, with a similar issue of players defecting to another countries (mainly the US) due to the repressive communist regime, still play football competitions to even now and has a functioning (though troubled) national team.

[@afcHalifax-xy5uu]

North Korea also. Much unlike western propaganda, NK has good Youth training system, players playing and living in Europe or Japan, prior to the total sanction.

[@beno1129]

@@afcHalifax-xy5uu I'm not sure which western propaganda claimed that NK has bad football development systems. The issue has always been with Kim's oppressive leadership. His love of sports is well known, and it is logical that he would invest in areas (such as football) which can bring 'glory' to the republic.

[@pablomiguez2733]

In fact I believe Cuba now allows foreign based players to represent the national team (USSR and Poland allowed that in the 1980s).

[@abdiazizhamza5866]

Eritreans are tough people like us Somalis . We both are going through tough times but we’ll make it back , I’m sure of it .

[@tm_yt496]

No wonder Alexander isak did not want to play for them

[@gidehabtay]

He couldn’t if he wanted to lol

[@filimonmehari4005]

😂​@@gidehabtay

[@Freeworld-k8r]

😂😂😂😂😊

[@complexfellow4961]

I love a good history lesson with Alfie. I was not even desperate for him to move on to talking more about football.

[@shyamsundar4264]

This reminds me of when I was a kid and was playing FIFA 15 and I saw Goitom from AIK and Eritrea and wondered how Eritrea couldn't be a decent national team if they had a really good striker in a European league

[@user-ww2zg4vs8c]

the country has been at war with border trouble with Ethiopia occupying land still. which is why the military gets such a focus

[@user-ww2zg4vs8c]

plus illegal sanctions is what has crippled the economy after independence.

[@diomuda7903]

Still waiting for a video about Kazakhstan's football sportswashing, Alfie. Its UEFA membership since 2002, despite gross human rights violation and persecution of dissidents, is further capitalised by our European failure (NATO and EU, by contrast, banned Kazakhstan from joining for these reasons) to understand the Astana dictators. UEFA's mishandling of Kazakhstan has fuelled Russia, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and China's sportswashing, which had resulted in cases like the 2018 World Cup held by Russia, the 2022 World Cup held by Qatar or upcoming 2034 tournament in Saudi Arabia, and, perhaps, contributed to the Russian invasion of Ukraine as well.

[@FlamingBasketballClub]

I'm 100% convinced that you are a bot at this point.

[@diomuda7903]

@@FlamingBasketballClub How much tenge received from Nazarbayev, bot?

[@FlamingBasketballClub]

@@diomuda7903 I'm not from Kazakhstan. However, the reason why I'm fully convinced that you are is that you have written that same exact comment for at least 6 months. Maybe about a year dawg.

[@diomuda7903]

@@FlamingBasketballClub Only you have the bravery to behave like an internet bot since you have abused me for the same reason. Your videos of six years ago include accounts created by yours to promote your very unpopular Nintendo game plays, and I noticed that.

[@FlamingBasketballClub]

@@diomuda7903 I'm not a internet bot. But you sure behave like one based on your own previous comments.

[@eriboy62833]

As an Eritrean, I can assure you that 90% of what he said about politics was blindly speculative and ignorant. 20% of the sport is based on misinformation.

[@DanielGooaaall]

PFDJ isias good spotted

[@rakification]

@@DanielGooaaall Indeed, who he thinks he is fooling 😄

[@s0uldr4ke]

There is nothing like my favorite Voltaire quote to make my day „Whereas other states have an army, the Prussian Army has a state.“

[@sp4cem4n70]

When that photo (thumbnail)was taken, I was in that stadium and my country BW won that match 3-0. Some of the players never left our country and are still alive and well in a refugee camp (last I heard)

[@DanielGooaaall]

3-1. Eritrea Was leading for a few minutes. Henok Goitom scored

[@_KnuXles]

I find it slightly amusing that a part of your search history while gathering the images for this video will have been "Adolf Hitler", "Benito Mussolini", "Hirohito", "Josef Stalin" and then "Nick Clegg"

[@trojanmissile933]

Excellent analysis-Eye opener

[@HeyThereStan]

I found this video interesting and informative, thank you Alfie 👍

[@jackbridge5780]

I had a little kick about in my city centre (Bradford) with my son and two Eritreans. We ended up having a random game of volleyball with the footy and no volleyball net lol, it was a laugh tbf. I watch a lot of history/geography content here on KZbin so knew a bit of what it was like over there and we talked about them being lucky to have got out of the country.

[@patrickboadu6172]

Most informative, surprising, beneficial to gain knowledge comment section in a long while

[@lordhenrywotton95]

If Eritrea get their act together, they could call up some decent players from the diaspora, including Hamburg striker Robert Glatzel.

[@gletscherminze9372]

Another lesson in politics and history, disguised as football content. Exactly what I am here for.

[@stenic10]

Day whatever.. a video about FK Arkadag, the club founded by a dictator a year ago, given instant entry to the Turkmen top flight and champions with a 100% record in their first season.

[@mrgreatbritain]

Before even watching this video, I know it's because they all defect to wherever they're playing. I'm sure I read somewhere that the FA gave up on entering competitions because most players kept escaping I'll have to check back on this after watching

[@aj_2W0]

The line about the Eritrean Premier League being the real EPL almost made me spit my water out 😂 Another great video! 👏

[@rakification]

Indeed :D I also hoped he would make a comparison to the judaic people front and front of Judae regarding the ELF and EPLF ^^

[@CastriesFootballCouncil]

Never thought I would watch a football video and there would be a reference to His Imperial Majesty Emperor Haile Selassie, Jah Rastafari. Thank you Alfie.

[@minabotieso6944]

I like to consider myself globally conscious but I have never heard of Eritrea until recently and never knew how bad it is

[@Mark-uh3un]

Congratulations on 600k! 1m coming in 2025 I can feel it

[@LegitSarchie]

Truly great video

[@ArgHelo]

Another great video Alf

[@ShpirtSvensson-rm1gr]

Sad, they have decent players. They have some in Swedish league and prolly ìn other leagues aswell that play for another nation.

[@nemanjabibic9032]

One of the best videos so far!

[@A22337]

Henok Goitom (seen in the thumbnail) received some criticism in Sweden when he decided to play for Eritrea since they still are holding Swedish citizen Dawit Isaak captive since 2001 (if he is alive).

[@TSnake1982]

Here in the Netherlands the Eritrean regime have a lot of supporters who are harassing a lot of Eritrean refugees.

[@Befreedaily]

​@@TSnake1982deportation is the solution

[@siler22]

There is not a better way to mark off 600k subs then making a documentary about national team of Eritrea what a sad and tragic docu,football being your way to escape totalitarian regime

[@Befreedaily]

Half Eritrean

[@gobibeast]

Foreign Aid doesn’t have a good reputation in Africa, Afwerki told Americans to go help Haiti instead 😂 he has a point, I’d rather starve than take your help

[@hoppywern9057]

Is this even a football channel anymore ( love the content)

[@jantenbruggencate1678]

"Gorinchem" is pronounced as [xɔʀkəm] or "Gorkum", it confuses many of us as well when we have to read it out loud