Football's popularity in Africa belies the harmful socio-cultural and economic effects of the global game, argues McEdwin Ifeanyi Obi in this week's Pambazuka News. Once a sporting pastime for which the issue of money extended only as far as having kit to play in, the global brand of football under the power of the English Premier League and the UEFA Champions' League is now an all-consuming drain on Africans' intellectual and financial resources, Obi stresses.