The Salah effect
More and more footballers, many from Africa, are openly displaying their religious beliefs on the fields of Europe's top leagues.
Football Is a Country
Try being a woman playing soccer in Sudan
The guardians of women's femininity and virtue and their use of public space come up against a women's football team in the Sudanese capital.
General Sisi’s empty seats
Football and neoliberal repression go together in Egypt.
Okocha, love you. Pass Maradona!
The midfielder Augustine "Jay Jay" Okocha is arguably one of Nigeria's best men's football players ever. It is his birthday today, August 14th.
Beyond game day
Ultras or extreme fans of football clubs in Morocco use their collective identity to push for social and political demands.
Pirates and Chiefs
Why do football matches between Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates matter more than any other sporting event in South Africa. Even more than when the rugby Springboks play.
Sport, history and politics at the African Cup of Nations
How AFCON 2019 showed up Arab-African identity and cultural politics between North Africa and countries south of the Sahara.
Algerian football success is a double-edged sword
Algeria reached the African Cup final for the first time in 29 years after defeating Nigeria. It can't be divorced from politics back home.
Yes We Can—Football and Nationalism
The 2019 Africa Cup of Nations in Egypt and football’s peculiar hold on national identity.
African Cup of Nations: A PR fiasco for Egyptian hosts
Egypt got knocked out in the Round of 16, but the hosts have been hamstrung by multiple events, including the military's control, besides its poor performance in the tournament.
Can women’s football be a game changer?
Queer identities, widely accepted on the pitch in women's football, may be the way to challenge gender norms in some societies.
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.
A Black Queen in the Seattle Reign
Organized US Soccer is perceived as middle class and white. Seattle, Washington wants to break with that via its professional women's team.
Pogbacité
Is France's World Cup championship team a bellwether for France's political future?
Everything ends with a song
"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.
Kylian Mbappé, Karim Benzema and France’s Second-Class Citizens
Fascists love Mbappé and hate 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, Rei (“King”) a striker prone to making black power salutes, was left out out of the country's World Cup squad. Two other rebels, Socrates and Zico, made it though.