Ikechukwu Ejekwumadu
Biographic Data
| ID | 181354 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Ikechukwu Ejekwumadu |
| GIVEN NAMES | Ikechukwu |
| FAMILY NAME | Ejekwumadu |
| SIGNATURE | EJEKWUMADU I |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Tübingen |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-1211-5791 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 11 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 16 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 11 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2021 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
“Parked buses” and playing through pockets of space
Purpose Recruiting professional footballers presents a major methodological challenge in elite sports research, as elite football environments are often suspicious of “outsiders” and may perceive researchers as intrusive. This paper reflects on the difficulties encountered while researching elite West African footballers in Germany and examines the strategies adopted to gain access to and recruit participants within this hard-to-reach group. Desi…
People can go to zero’
Despite the high incidence of involuntary immobility among aspiring youth footballers in West Africa, their psychosocial and mental health experiences following the unsuccessful end to their endeavours remain little researched. Through qualitative interviews, this study explored the nature of the psychosocial and mental health experiences of former players in amateur and semi-professional football in Nigeria. The findings reveal a number of emoti…
‘Football is blood money’
Research on African football migration has drawn concepts from the broader social science scholarship on youth, masculinity and social becoming as well as the narrative resources of African youth to understand and explain the imaginaries and lived experiences of aspiring and migrant African footballers. In this paper, I argue for the decolonisation of African youth scholarship by providing a more detailed conceptualisation and showing the interpr…
An ambition at a crossroads
Thousands of youths play in amateur and semi-professional clubs in Nigeria with the hope of achieving a professional contract or transnational migration through football. For the majority, however, the social and spatial mobility that is hoped for is never realised. This means that they would have to terminate their pursuit and transition into alternative adulthood pathways. Through semi-structured interviews with former players, this study explo…
Football Still Puts Food on My Table
Pre-professional career termination has attracted considerable interest in football research. Research attention has mostly been on the difficulties that players may face in navigating the transition to a post-football life. However, 'the excessive focus on the pathologies' may obscure the many different ways that the aspired career may contribute to the athlete's post-football well-being. Through a positive psychology approach, this paper explor…
Big, strong, reliable guys who have the legs to run
Yet, they didn’t sign me
This paper investigated how the experiences of precarity are produced in amateur and semi-professional football in Nigeria through qualitative interviews with former amateur and semi-professional footballers. Though a few studies have highlighted the precarities that football career aspirations produce among West African youth, the mechanisms through which such precarious experiences develop remain loosely articulated. This paper fills this gap. …
African football migration
I get used to it, I train through it, even though there are some days you cry through it
Elite African players are a major group in the growing international football talent market, especially in Europe. Through qualitative interviews, this study examined the coping strategies and adaption practices of two West African athletes in the process of transition into German football and society. Examining the players' narrative through the interpretive biography approach, the findings highlighted subjective adaptive and coping practices, a…
The transnational prosocial activities of elite African footballers in their communities of origin
Through a digital ethnography of Twitter and Instagram and semi-structured interviews, this paper examined the different forms of prosocial activities of elite African footballers in their home countries. A few studies have examined 'give back' activities in communities of origin in the form of remittances to family and friends and social philanthropy initiatives. This approach has proven to be limited as it does not capture their non-material co…
Social structure and the imagined mobility of youth football athletes in Dakar
Across Dakar are many small football training centres where youth prospects start what could grow into professional careers. At these centres, imaginations of career and social mobility develop. In this paper, I explore the mobility imaginations of the youth athletes. I argue that the imaginations are shaped by existing social and class structures, and that the imaginations among the athletes from poor and working-class backgrounds are predominan…
Social structure and the imagined mobility of youth football athletes in Dakar
Across Dakar are many small football training centres where youth prospects start what could grow into professional careers. At these centres, imaginations of career and social mobility develop. In this paper, I explore the mobility imaginations of the youth athletes. I argue that the imaginations are shaped by existing social and class structures, and that the imaginations among the athletes from poor and working-class backgrounds are predominan…
I get used to it, I train through it, even though there are some days you cry through it
Elite African players are a major group in the growing international football talent market, especially in Europe. Through qualitative interviews, this study examined the coping strategies and adaption practices of two West African athletes in the process of transition into German football and society. Examining the players' narrative through the interpretive biography approach, the findings highlighted subjective adaptive and coping practices, a…
Big, strong, reliable guys who have the legs to run
Yet, they didn’t sign me
This paper investigated how the experiences of precarity are produced in amateur and semi-professional football in Nigeria through qualitative interviews with former amateur and semi-professional footballers. Though a few studies have highlighted the precarities that football career aspirations produce among West African youth, the mechanisms through which such precarious experiences develop remain loosely articulated. This paper fills this gap. …
African football migration
The transnational prosocial activities of elite African footballers in their communities of origin
Through a digital ethnography of Twitter and Instagram and semi-structured interviews, this paper examined the different forms of prosocial activities of elite African footballers in their home countries. A few studies have examined 'give back' activities in communities of origin in the form of remittances to family and friends and social philanthropy initiatives. This approach has proven to be limited as it does not capture their non-material co…
Social structure and the imagined mobility of youth football athletes in Dakar
Across Dakar are many small football training centres where youth prospects start what could grow into professional careers. At these centres, imaginations of career and social mobility develop. In this paper, I explore the mobility imaginations of the youth athletes. I argue that the imaginations are shaped by existing social and class structures, and that the imaginations among the athletes from poor and working-class backgrounds are predominan…
African football migration
I get used to it, I train through it, even though there are some days you cry through it
Elite African players are a major group in the growing international football talent market, especially in Europe. Through qualitative interviews, this study examined the coping strategies and adaption practices of two West African athletes in the process of transition into German football and society. Examining the players' narrative through the interpretive biography approach, the findings highlighted subjective adaptive and coping practices, a…
The transnational prosocial activities of elite African footballers in their communities of origin
Through a digital ethnography of Twitter and Instagram and semi-structured interviews, this paper examined the different forms of prosocial activities of elite African footballers in their home countries. A few studies have examined 'give back' activities in communities of origin in the form of remittances to family and friends and social philanthropy initiatives. This approach has proven to be limited as it does not capture their non-material co…
Yet, they didn’t sign me
This paper investigated how the experiences of precarity are produced in amateur and semi-professional football in Nigeria through qualitative interviews with former amateur and semi-professional footballers. Though a few studies have highlighted the precarities that football career aspirations produce among West African youth, the mechanisms through which such precarious experiences develop remain loosely articulated. This paper fills this gap. …
‘Football is blood money’
Research on African football migration has drawn concepts from the broader social science scholarship on youth, masculinity and social becoming as well as the narrative resources of African youth to understand and explain the imaginaries and lived experiences of aspiring and migrant African footballers. In this paper, I argue for the decolonisation of African youth scholarship by providing a more detailed conceptualisation and showing the interpr…
An ambition at a crossroads
Thousands of youths play in amateur and semi-professional clubs in Nigeria with the hope of achieving a professional contract or transnational migration through football. For the majority, however, the social and spatial mobility that is hoped for is never realised. This means that they would have to terminate their pursuit and transition into alternative adulthood pathways. Through semi-structured interviews with former players, this study explo…
Football Still Puts Food on My Table
Pre-professional career termination has attracted considerable interest in football research. Research attention has mostly been on the difficulties that players may face in navigating the transition to a post-football life. However, 'the excessive focus on the pathologies' may obscure the many different ways that the aspired career may contribute to the athlete's post-football well-being. Through a positive psychology approach, this paper explor…
Big, strong, reliable guys who have the legs to run
“Parked buses” and playing through pockets of space
Purpose Recruiting professional footballers presents a major methodological challenge in elite sports research, as elite football environments are often suspicious of “outsiders” and may perceive researchers as intrusive. This paper reflects on the difficulties encountered while researching elite West African footballers in Germany and examines the strategies adopted to gain access to and recruit participants within this hard-to-reach group. Desi…
People can go to zero’
Despite the high incidence of involuntary immobility among aspiring youth footballers in West Africa, their psychosocial and mental health experiences following the unsuccessful end to their endeavours remain little researched. Through qualitative interviews, this study explored the nature of the psychosocial and mental health experiences of former players in amateur and semi-professional football in Nigeria. The findings reveal a number of emoti…
Sports, Gender, and Society (10 works) · Sport and Mega-Event Impacts (9 works) · Football (7 works) · Sociology (7 works) · Gender Studies (6 works) · Political science (6 works) · Advertising (5 works) · Amateur (5 works) · Business (5 works) · Gender Studies (5 works)