An island nation, everywhere
When Cabo Verde qualified for the World Cup, celebrations erupted from Praia to Rotterdam. The Blue Sharks’ rise shows how a scattered people built a global team rooted in home.
FIFA World Cup
Matchday 2: The Battle of Omdurman
A new season of the African Five-a-side podcast asks, “what is the greatest match in the history of men's African football?”
The worst thing to happen to football
Gianni Infantino isn’t just another corrupt FIFA president—his greed, self-importance, and political alliances are actively ruining football.
Are the 2026 FIFA World Cup Qualifiers a new era for African Football?
This week on the African Five-a-side podcast, we take a look at the kick off of the African qualifiers for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
Qatar’s vuvuzela
The 2022 Men’s World Football Cup is in its knockout stages, so the Africa Is a Country podcast catches up with some of the most exciting events so far in the tournament.
There is a World Cup
The 22nd FIFA Men’s World Cup, held in Qatar, is getting political. This week on the AIAC podcast, we discuss the sport and the politics with Tony Karon and Sean Jacobs.
The World Cup and international relations
Who gets to host future editions of the men's soccer World Cup is not just big business, but also a bargaining chip in international relations.
Pogbacité
Is France's World Cup championship team a bellwether for France's political future?
Everything ends with a song
The author, French: "When the game is over in Russia, I’ll go play another at the field down the street. I’ll find a song to sing on the way."
The Respectable French
The 2010 World Cup was tumultuous for France; both an athletic failure and a site of social conflict. The French Football Federation doesn't want to repeat it.
Karim Benzema vs France
Fascists love Kylian Mbappé and hate Karim Benzema. Between these two lies the problem of romanticizing the French team as an African team.
What Would a World Cup Win for France Mean in the French Caribbean?
A possible French victory hovers like a thin layer of hope that barely veils the simmering anger at France’s neglect of the islands and pessimism about the future.
Nigeria’s World Cup Adventure is Over: Do We Still Love Her?
Focusing on sports allegiance to Nigeria, offered a break from pondering over all of its social ills.
The masters of the improbable
In 1982, Reinaldo, a striker prone to making black power salutes, was left out out of Brazil's World Cup squad.
Ibrahim Usman’s road to Qatar
Watching the World Cup with a young Nigerian professional footballer in Seattle, U.S.
#TousEnsemble
The success of Belgium's national football team as a key site for political struggles over identity, race and immigration.
Cette équipe tue les fascistes
en ce moment, le plus français de tous les français est un gamin noir d’origine algérienne et camerounaise nommé Kylian Mbappé.
The Pan-Africanist roots of football in Ghana
Soccer came to Ghana with “a Jamaican educationist." That's the popular version. It's not entirely correct.
Fear of a Black France
You want to troll French fascists? Tell them the truth: the most French man in the world right now is a black kid called Kylian Mbappé.
The Header that Rocked the World
At Italia 1990, Cameroon pulled off the greatest upsets in football in the history of the World Cup--against Maradona's Argentina.