Ali Abdi Mahmoud, one of the best young players in Somalia, has been shot and killed. According to his coach, Salah Farah, Ali was attacked by three masked men as he walked home after a training session earlier this month. Ali was 16 and a leading member of Somalia’s under-17 team. He is not the [...]
I’m learning to say ‘soccer’ not ‘football’ when I talk about the game to Americans. My first US interview was on NPR in December. Thankfully it was pre-recorded as I kept on saying “football, oh I mean soccer”. Although many of us in the UK mock Americans for calling it ‘soccer’ they aren’t the only [...]
At the Africa Cup of Nations one man has been everywhere. Large portraits of Angola’s president, Jose Eduardo dos Santos, hang from every side of the ground in Luanda’s new 11 November stadium. When the host nation was playing, until they were knocked out by Ghana last Sunday, dos Santos was there in person too, [...]
Hello and welcome to Africa United. In the run up to Africa’s first World Cup this website will try to put African football in a bit of context. It will cover goals and games, but it will also look at the politics and the culture that surrounds football on the continent. African football has never [...]
No one does African football ads like Guinness. I love this one, although I’d prefer it if Supersport didn’t play it during every single ad break.
Before they play, they pray. A dozen men, all missing a limb, lean on crutches and bow their heads. Shouts from a nearby football match and the sound of cars passing on the road beside us fill the air. The coach mutters an “amen” and the men lift their heads and begin warming-up. They move [...]
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