Skip to main content

Motivation Quote by Roger Milla

"If I can join hands with FIFA and other continental bodies to promote football globally, then I can do more than that to raise African football to new heights"

About this Quote

Milla’s line reads like diplomacy in cleats: a pledge of partnership that doubles as a claim to authority. By starting with “If I can join hands with FIFA,” he signals access to the sport’s real power centers - not just the pitch, but the committees, budgets, and brand machinery that decide whose football gets televised, funded, and mythologized. The phrase “join hands” is soft-focus language for hard politics: alliances, influence, legitimacy.

The pivot is the tell. “Then I can do more than that” quietly reorders the hierarchy. Helping “promote football globally” is framed as a baseline achievement; the real mission is “raise African football to new heights.” Subtext: Africa has been treated as football’s raw-material continent - talent exported, value captured elsewhere - and Milla is insisting on infrastructure, prestige, and decision-making power staying closer to home. It’s also a gentle rebuke to the patronizing model where global bodies “develop” Africa as a charity project. He’s positioning himself not as a recipient but as a broker.

Context matters because Milla isn’t a faceless administrator. He’s a living symbol of African football’s global breakthrough, especially after 1990, when his joy and performance forced the world to pay attention. That history gives the promise emotional credibility: he’s leveraging fame earned on the field to argue for structural change off it. The line works because it’s aspirational without sounding naïve - a veteran saying: I’ve seen the ceiling, and I know who controls the roof.

Quote Details

TopicSports
SourceHelp us find the source
More Quotes by Roger Add to List
Roger Milla's Vision for African Football's Future
Click to enlarge Portrait | Landscape

About the Author

Cameroon Flag

Roger Milla (born May 20, 1952) is a Athlete from Cameroon.

2 more quotes available

View Profile

Similar Quotes