Distanced at club level, and scrutinized at home, there is no player with more to prove at this African Cup of Nations than Mohamed Salah.
Latest
The boys are back in town
Bafana Bafana’s resurgence has been forged where South African football always lives—between brilliance and the bizarre.
AFCON Archive
Hospitals versus stadiums
As Morocco prepares to host AFCON and the 2030 World Cup, a decentralized youth movement is demanding real investment in public services over sporting spectacle.
Enemies of progress
Delayed, underfunded, and undermined, this year’s Women’s Africa Cup of Nations has exposed not just neglect but active sabotage from CAF and national federations.
Whose game is remembered?
The Women’s Africa Cup of Nations opens in Morocco amid growing calls to preserve the stories, players, and legacy of the women who built the game—before they’re lost to erasure and algorithm alike.
Is AFCON a major tournament?
AFCON doesn’t need European validation to be major—it already is. But the real danger lies in how dismissive narratives shape the value of African football and its players.
Culture
Mapping Johannesburg’s wounds
In his latest exhibition, Khanya Zibaya charts the psychic and spatial terrain of a city where homelessness, decay, and human resilience sit uneasily together.
AFCON 2025
Instead of going on our end of the year publishing break, Africa Is a Country will be transitioning to cover the 2025 edition of the African Cup of Nations from Morocco. Follow along with video dispatches on the African Five-a-side podcast.
Politics
The missing voices of Western Sahara
At the UN’s annual Western Sahara debate, everyone gets heard except the Sahrawis themselves.
