The politics of the football terrace
In Algeria, football stadiums have long been sites of protest, expression, and resistance. As public space shrinks and surveillance rises, their political future hangs in the balance.
33 Article(s) by:
Maher Mezahi
Maher Mezahi is a football journalist and host of the Africa Five-a-side podcast. Based in Algiers, he is a contributing editor for Africa Is a Country.
Rock Chalk Algeria
Against a tournament shadowed by visa refusals and bureaucratic hostility, the unexpected love affair between the Algerian national team and the city of Lawrence, Kansas, is a welcome reminder of what the World Cup is actually supposed to be about.
A World Cup without the world?
The exclusion of Somali referee Omar Artan hardens the contradiction at the heart of the 2026 World Cup: a global tournament increasingly shaped by the politics of exclusion.
Lions in the rain
The 2025 AFCON final between Senegal and Morocco was a dramatic spectacle that tested the limits of the match and the crowd, until a defining moment held everything together.
What’s in an AFCON final?
From national redemption and continental dominance to personal legacy and political ambition, the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations final means everything to Africans.
Between Bambali and Nagrig
The rivalry between Sadio Mané and Mohamed Salah pushed them to unprecedented heights, but also links two seemingly distant and disconnected villages.
Just touched down in Morocco
Does the development of African football necessitate a trade off in vibes at continental tournaments?
Three footballers walk into a stadium
What the presence of an unlikely trio of football icons at AFCON tells us about migration, African identity, and the histories that continue to shape the modern game
Sounds of the Africa Cup of Nations
What it sounds like on the ground in Morocco at the 2025 edition of Africa Cup of Nations.
Salah in isolation
Distanced at club level, and scrutinized at home, there is no player with more to prove at this Africa Cup of Nations than Mohamed Salah.
A giant chance
An African Cup of Nations at home for red hot Morocco is a chance to put past trauma aside and charge on to the world stage.
We must learn to sit in the dark together
At our first workshop from our festival in Nairobi, The Elephant’s Joe Kobuthi, reflected on a year since #EndFinanceBill.
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?”
It’s Gianni’s world (cup) . . .
On the eve of the kick off of FIFA's newest major tournament, we wonder, who is the Club World Cup for?
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.
Algeria and France’s endless rift
France and Algeria remain locked in a cycle of reconciliation and rupture as the wounds of colonization continue to shape their uneasy relationship.
More French than Algerian
This week, Kamel Daoud became the first Algerian to receive France’s most prestigious literary honor. Yet, in Algeria, no one seems to care.
Rolling with the punches
Removed from the facts, the firestorm around Algerian boxer Imane Khelif is the latest attempt by the right-wing in the West to find fodder for its culture war.
Who are the Olympics for?
Beneath the image of togetherness, the world’s biggest athletic spectacle is still beset by discrimination and exclusion.
United by football?
At the Euros, the French national football team isn’t talking about football, but the threat posed by a resurgent, xenophobic right-wing in Europe.