Why Argentineans blame Messi when they lose
Argentina crashed out of the 2018 World Cup. It's not Messi's fault.
Culture
How I met your mother
The author relives his greatest World Cup moment.
Uruguay is playing for you
Despite what happened at the 2010 World Cup, Africans have more in common with Uruguayans.
A World Cup for the people
Even VAR could not save the Africans who withered away in the first round of Russia 2018.
David Goldblatt 1930-2018
The South African photographer has left us. He was one of the most significant artists of his time.
What Else Is There?
The author grapples with how to photograph the lives of her neighbors in a part of North East Nigeria, where Boko Haram is on a reign of terror.
That one time Zambia nearly qualified for the World Cup
In 1994, Zambia was on the cusp of qualifying for the World Cup. After a tragedy wiped out the national team it lost to bad refereeing.
Uganda—a culture that puts women at risk of great violence
A new film and how to change minds about who is at fault for Uganda’s endemic violence against women.
Soul Brother Krishna
Ishmael Reed explores the future of race in America in new work, focusing in on black-South Asian solidarities.
When Cameroon’s players convinced themselves they could not win
The reason why African teams struggle in the World Cup has everything to do with colonialism.
Why hasn’t an African nation won the World Cup
When African football officials stop being corrupt and identify and develop young talent, an African nation would have a real chance of winning the World Cup.
Imagining the South African Indian
How do you tell a different story of Indians in South Africa, one that shatters long-held and reproduced stereotypes?
France ’98 and a genuine moment of Maghrebi solidarity
Tunisia played England in France '98. English hooligans attacked Tunisians in the streets of Marseille. Algerians came to Tunisians' rescue.
The descent of our fathers
A remembrance for Father's Day.
Ghana didn’t qualify for the World Cup, so which African team do I support?
One Ghanaian football fan wrestles with which teams to support in this year's World Cup after the Black Stars failed to qualify.
Giant Russian dolls in Egyptian national team jerseys
Reflections on World Cup fever from Cairo and my Canadian immigrant father's Egyptian football nationalism.
The beautiful month
We are exploring the culture and history of the World Cup for the next month while the tournament goes on.
Reconsidering France’s role in the Rwandan genocide
It is worth revisiting the context for the mass killings, how historians have studied it since and casting a revisionist eye.
Captain Kolisi
South Africa's national rugby team, the Springboks, gets a black captain for the first time in its history--24 years after the end of Apartheid.
This is Nigeria
A group of Nigerian thinkers debate rapper Falz's take on Childish Gambino's viral "This Is America."