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Reconnection: For immigrant and diaspora communities especially, the World Cup is deeper than sport. It is reunion, memory, identity, homesickness, pride and belonging compressed into 90 minutes. Photo: Flickr

The beautiful game stops at the border

Three dozen countries are banned from entering America in the year it is hosting the World Cup. Twenty-six of them are African. That’s half of Africa

Senegal’s 2025 Afcon title has been revoked and awarded to Morocco following a landmark ruling on Tuesday. The Senegalese Football Federation is set to challenge the move at the Court of Arbitration for Sport

CAF strips Senegal of 2025 Afcon title and Morocco declared official champions

Senegal’s 2025 Afcon title has been revoked and awarded to Morocco following a landmark ruling on Tuesday. The Senegalese Football Federation is set to challenge the move at the…

South Africa at the World Cup

Around this time 15 years ago, the entire nation was getting very excited about hosting the first-ever – and to this date, the only – FIFA World Cup to be held in Africa.…

Nelson Mandela and South Africa’s 1995 rugby World Cup promoted unity in newly democratic South Africa.

In a world of hate, leverage sports to combat it

Sport is critical in curbing racial hatred and hate speech through continuous global awareness campaigns in tournaments such as the Fifa World Cup and the Olympics

Own goal: Safa president Danny Jordaan made what he called a ‘payment’ to football development. He is now charged with fraud between 2014 and 2018. Photo: Alex Grimm/Getty Images

Danny Jordaan: The dream sours

In this second of a two-part series, Luke Alfred looks at the fall of Danny Jordaan, previously lauded as the champion of football in post-apartheid South Africa

Own goal: Safa president Danny Jordaan made what he called a ‘payment’ to football development. He is now charged with fraud between 2014 and 2018. Photo: Alex Grimm/Getty Images

Tracking the amiable Mr Jordaan

In this, the first of a two-part series, Luke Alfred looks at the rise of Danny Jordaan, the champion of football in post-apartheid South Africa

MAIDSTONE, ENGLAND – APRIL 13: Ryan ‘Task Azi’ De Oliveira Bastos of South Africa and Shiaan ‘Shiaan1201’ Rugbeer of South Africa warm up prior to their match during Day 1 of FIFA eNations Cup 2019 on April 13, 2019 in Maidstone, England. (Photo by Dan Mullan – FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images)

Unlock South Africa’s potential in the global video gaming industry

The country’s revenue from the gaming industry was R7.3 billion in 2023. This can be increased by encouraging electronic sports and the development of local games as well as…

Endrick of Palmeiras reacts during a match between Sao Paulo and Palmeiras as part of Brasileirao Series A at Morumbi Stadium on April 29, 2024 in Sao Paulo, Brazil. (Photo by Alexandre Schneider/Getty Images)

Is Brazil still the land of football?

The country is still the world’s top exporter of footballers, but they are bringing in less money

Friendly fire: Puma’s fanwear for Côte d’Ivoire is bright, but not so much as to induce a headache.

Stripes, swooshes get the boot at Afcon’s kit contest

The battle for Africa’s national shirt market has taken a new turn, with some of the raciest designs coming from continental brands

Controversial plays of ‘Jogo Bonito’ that fans love – but FIFA not so much

FIFA’s limitations have resulted in football becoming more boring and predictable

The challenges that Banyana faced prior to the world cup include the pay gap between them and the male team (Bafana Bafana). It was also revealed that the South African Football Association (Safta) was paying the female team 10% less than the male team. (Photo by Maja Hitij – FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images)

Re-thinking women’s sport in South Africa

Policy does not match the all-inclusive ethos of the games women excel at

Retreat: Safa boss Danny Jordaan shifted from threatening to kick out Banyana players to promises of pay. Photo: Lee Warren/Gallo Images

Like Banyana Banyana, Ace Magashule boots people under the bus

It’s payback time and the ANC’s former secretary general has taken a note out of Banyana Banyana’s game plan

The United States celebrate winning the 2019 Women’s World Cup. This year’s World Cup has not yet begun, but it is already breaking new ground. (Photo by Naomi Baker – FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images)

Women’s World Cup set to shake things up

A ball has yet to be kicked but already the 2023 Women’s Football World Cup is breaking new ground

France’s 1998 and 2018 World Cup wins  might literally have saved lives. (Photo by GABRIEL BOUYS / AFP)

World Cup fever can lead to more births, heart attacks and stock market fluctuations

The World Cup can trigger intense emotions in a way that no other sporting mega-event can

Argentina’s forward Lionel Messi reacts during his team’s opening round 2-1 loss to Saudi Arabia at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
Antonin Thuillier/AFP via Getty Images

Messi saw a ghost – and he won’t be the first

The Saudis were superb, but the Argentinians got spooked by the hovering legacy of World Cup failures past

Let’s look at each team to determine which nation might replace France as world champions before the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 starts.

2022 World Cup: What’s the deal in group G?

Tournament favourites Brazil should coast through, but Cameroon, Serbia and Switzerland have it all to play for

Fifa president Gianni Infantino. (Photo by Masashi Hara – FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images)

Don’t be fooled by Infantino’s fantasies

Fifa’s boss wants the game to float above ‘ideological battles’. But it’s Fifa’s ideology of greed that steered the World Cup into a desert stinking of money and suffering

Counsellor “Gogo” Shery Ziwakayi sits on a bench as she wait for a client for a private counselling session at the Friendship Bench in Harare on November 4, 2022. – A Zimbabwean doctor has come up with a novel way of providing desperately needed, yet free mental health therapy for Zimbabweans using elderly lay health workers referred to as grandmothers. Dubbed the Friendship Bench, psychiatry professor Dixon Chibanda’s creation is a wooden park bench where people experiencing common mental disorders such as anxiety and depression sit and receive therapy from grandmothers. Now the model is temporarily being exported to FIFA World Cup in Qatar later this month to cast the spotlight on mental health. Photo by Jekesai NJIKIZANA / AFP)

Zimbabwe’s ‘mental health benches’ exported to the World Cup

The therapy model is now being exported to the football World Cup in Qatar, where 32 benches, each representing a team competing in the Fifa tournament, will be set up to cast…

Brazil lift the 2002 World Cup which was in South Korea and Japan.

Yes, Ukraine should host the World Cup – but on its own

By bloating its showpiece, Fifa has made single-country bids impossible and dimmed the tournament’s magic

Fifa president Gianni Infantino during a press conference at the world football governing body’s headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland. (Photograph by Valeriano Di Domenico/ Getty Images)

Will a biennial World Cup be good for Africa?

Some say it will bring more funds and other development opportunities to football on the continent, but others remain sceptical and deeply suspicious of Fifa’s true motives.