Football’s three mixed Maghrebi and Black African stars are not emissaries of a new pan-Africanism. And the continent doesn’t need them to be.
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The indelible African superfan
Part performer, part cultural ambassador, and increasingly, a political flashpoint.
The World Cup
Our coverage of the 2026 FIFA Men’s World Cup in North America.
Culture
My mother’s buried story
AI tools are built on Eurocentric datasets. For Brazil’s Afro-descendants — whose histories were already marginalised from literature, academia, and media — it poses the threat of industrial-scale erasure.
SPORTS
The World Cup was born from imperial rivalry and nationalist aspiration. Almost a century later, it still oscillates between mass hope and elite spectacle.
Politics
Not all empires look the same
Although the UAE doesn’t occupy territory, it arms militias, controls ports, and launders violence through the language of development. Sudan is paying the price.
World Cup Archive
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.
The value of holding on as we imagine an escape
As Iran withstands one of its greatest existential challenges, its men's national team would be forced to carry the weight of a nation’s despair on the field.
Belonging is not a sport
The reality of any society, any nation, and of our world, is much messier than picking a soccer team.