Are the 2026 FIFA World Cup Qualifiers a new era for African Football?
This week on the African Five-a-side podcast, we take a look at the kick off of the African qualifiers for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
SPORTS
Hier kom die bokke
Something’s different about the reaction to South Africa’s victory at the 2023 Rugby World Cup, its fourth title.
Matchday 1: Kwame Nkrumah
Up next in the African Five-a-side podcast, we name our central defender, and explain how Ghana's first president boycotted the 1966 FIFA World Cup and won two Afcons.
Matchday 1: Gamal Abdel Nasser
In the latest episode of the African five-a-side podcast, we name our goalkeeper.
Imagining the future through running
The successes of elite Kenyan athletes should not distract from the ways ordinary Kenyans are using it to make meaning for themselves.
Matchday 1: Nnamdi Azikiwe, Ahmed Ben Bella, and Muammar Gaddafi
Africa Is a Country is proud to introduce a new podcast focused on the politics and cultural relevance of football on the African continent.
The people’s cup
This week on the Africa Is a Country podcast, we discuss the politics and spectacle of African football with Maher Mezahi.
Stealing the ball
Who is the black John Kennedy? A Brazilian footballer.
The meanings of Heath Streak
Zimbabwean cricketing legend Heath Streak’s career mirrors many of the unresolved tensions of race and class in Zimbabwe. Yet few white Zimbabwean sporting figures are able to stir interest and conversation across the nation’s many divides.
The cricketing phenomenon
The South African bowler, Kagiso Rabada, is arguably one of the best to play test cricket, and could retire as South Africa’s highest wicket-taker if the country plays more red-ball cricket.
The ways of South Africa’s cricket establishment
In South African cricket, almost three decades after white rule ended, “local talent” means “local white talent,” even if you’re the national team captain.
Everything the government does
On the South African Department of Tourism's pending sponsorship deal with Premier League football club, Tottenham Hotspur.
After we have grown too tired of jumping
The Ghanaian game, Ampe, is an education in Blackness and womanhood.
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.
A pivot towards Africa
The positive reactions of Africans to Morocco’s performance at the World Cup are not outliers. Sport has often challenged outsiders' view of Africa's regions as disparate and disconnected.
The (African) Arab Cup
Morocco’s World Cup heroics are forging a new, dissident Third-World solidarity, reflecting the multifaceted nature of Moroccan identity itself: simultaneously Arab, African, and Amazigh.
Qatar’s vuvuzela
The 2022 Men’s World Football Cup is in its knockout stages, so the Africa Is a Country podcast catches up with some of the most exciting events so far in the tournament.
There is a World Cup
The 22nd FIFA Men’s World Cup, held in Qatar, is getting political. This week on the AIAC podcast, we discuss the sport and the politics with Tony Karon and Sean Jacobs.
The remarkable revival of Ugandan football
Uganda has never qualified for the World Cup, but at a continental level it is making a comeback. So is its club football.