The Politics of Sports TV Rights
Otiato Guguyu
It is easier for me to strike a football conversation with a total stranger across a bar table than with my next door neighbour, with
It is easier for me to strike a football conversation with a total stranger across a bar table than with my next door neighbour, with
Many rituals are performed around the game of football, and especially so around a major contest like the World Cup that recently concluded in Qatar.
For a man who brought colour and pomp to matches featuring the national team Harambee Stars and his favourite club from western Kenya, AFC Leopards,
When Nick Mwendwa replaced Sam Nyamwea as president of the Football Kenya Federation (FKF) in February 2016, one of his promises was to elevate women’s football in the country. And in counting his administration’s achievements, Mwendwa has bragging rights for taking Harambee Starlets, Kenya’s women’s side, to their first-ever Africa Women Cup of Nations (AWCON) in 2016 in Cameroon.
It so happens that players born in Europe to African parents are now choosing to play for African countries instead of their European countries of birth; Geoffrey Kondogbia of Central African Republic, Moroccan Mehdi Benatia, Gabon’s Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang were all born in France. Achraf Hakimi was born in Spain but plays for Morocco. This was even more apparent during the 2022 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) where the Lions of Teranga, the winning Senegalese squad consisted of players such as Bouna Sarr, Abdou Diallo, Nampalys Mendy, Edouard Mendy all of whom were born in France. Further North, Tunisia’s Wahbi Kazri was born in France while Morocco’s Hakim Ziyech is of Dutch nationality.
When Mane stepped up to take the penalty, the execution was so powerful and precise that even Gabaski’s dive and stretch could not reach it. Mane hit the football with the venom of a man who was tired of anti-football, and as the net dangled from the power, the crowd in Paul Biya Stadium roared. Mane had clinched a first for his country and his manager. Football prevailed.
In a world where gender identities have become polarizing, World Athletics is battling to find its place on the right side of history.
