African Five-a-side

Welcome to a special episode of the African football round-up as the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers kick off!

Throughout the history of the FIFA World Cup, Africa has often found itself underrepresented. We trace back the journey to guaranteed qualification including the continent boycotting the 1966 FIFA World Cup.

We then ask if 9.5 qualifying places is the right number. We think that 9.5 ensures there are enough places for top African sides and doesn’t dilute quality.

Finally we recap the first day of qualifying including three David vs Goliath matchups including: Egypt vs Djibouti, Algeria vs Somalia and Nigeria vs Lesotho

This week we discuss the second leg of the African Football League final between Wydad Casablanca and Mamelodi Sundowns. We reflect on how Rhulani Mokwena passed his toughest test with flying colors and what that means for his future. Host Maher Mezahi also justifies how he voted for Club of the Year during the 2023 CAF Awards. We also name our team of the week and highlight the performances of Ivorian defenders who could be stalwarts for the host nation at the upcoming Africa Cup of Nations.

Episode 2 of Matchday 1 of the African-five-a side podcast continues to explore the stories of five African heads of state and their influence on football. This week, we're introducing our central defender: the intellectual, inspiring, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah.

As the first head of state of an independent Ghana, Nkrumah quickly understood the power of football as a unifying tool. He appointed Ohene Djan as the director of sports in 1960, and put in place structures to support the success of the national team, sometimes to the detriment of local clubs. Nkrumah's interest in soccer was so great that he proposed the formation of a model club to offer leadership and inspiration to other clubs in the country. This club was later named Real Republikans, and was nicknamed OOC—Osagyefo's Own Club.

The Black Stars, Ghana's national team, also scored a number of successes during Nkrumah's time in power. In 1960, Charles Gyamfi was named coach and quickly became the ideal candidate for the job. Under Gyamfi's leadership, the team produced many great players, including Baba Yara, Edward Aggrey-Fynn, Wilberforce Mfum, and Ben Acheampong.

In 1963, Ghana hosted the Africa Cup of Nations and won, and they repeated the feat in 1965 in Tunisia. In 1964, Nkrumah donated 250 guineas for the creation of the African Clubs Championship, which became known as the Kwame Nkrumah Cup. Later that year, the Black Stars became the first African nation south of the Sahara to play at the Olympics, held in Tokyo.

Nkrumah's side were considered one of the favorites to qualify for the 1966 FIFA World Cup, but Djan and the Confederation of African Football decided to proceed with a boycott of the tournament instead, as part of the wider African protest against FIFA's refusal to allocate a guaranteed qualifying place to the continent. Just a few weeks after Ghana won the 1965 Afcon, Nkrumah was deposed by a coup d'etat as he was out of the country.

In retrospect, very few heads of state enjoyed as much success with their national football teams as he did in the short period of time that he did. His significant contributions to the development of the Confederation of African Football also make him a natural choice for our African heads of state five-a-side team.

This week we discuss the first leg of the African Football League final between Wydad Casablanca and Mamelodi Sundowns. The match gives us a perfect opportunity to profile their star young coach and ask: Do the South African champions have what it takes to hurdle that final obstacle and win a continental trophy?

We also name our team of the week and highlight the performances of a couple of Braga stars that are underrated on the continent.

Episode 1 of Matchday 1 of the African-five-a side podcast continues to explore the stories of five African heads of state and their influence on football. This week, we're introducing our goalkeeper: the tall, suave, chain-smoking Gamal Abdel Nasser.

Why did we choose such a prominent figure in the non-aligned movement as our goalkeeper? Well, Nasser was known for his height, charisma, and exceptional communication skills—although his interest in football remains uncertain.

Nasser came from a humble background, with a postal worker father, and spent much of his childhood in rural areas. He entered the military academy in 1937, where he met his future ally Abdelhakim Amer and successor, Anwar Sadat. Nasser's experiences as a young officer during the British-imposed regime changes in World War II and his service in the Egyptian armed forces during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war had a profound impact on him.

After returning home, Nasser joined the Free Officers movement, which successfully executed a coup d'etat in 1952, transforming Egypt into a republic. Subsequently, Nasser started leveraging football for political purposes.

During his presidency, Nasser was named honorary president of Al Ahly SC and utilized the Cairo derby to raise funds for war efforts. At Nasser’s directive, Egypt boycotted the 1956 Summer Olympics, 1965 Africa Cup of Nations, and also interrupted all footballing activities at the outbreak of the 1967 Six-Day War. While he may not have been the most football-obsessed leader, Nasser skillfully utilized politics to enhance sports and vice versa. His significant contributions to the establishment of the Confederation of African Football make him a natural choice for our African heads of state five-a-side team.

All of the goings on in the world of African football, week of 10/16-10/23.

Over the weekend, the African football league kicked off and we discuss if the competition is good or bad for African football. We also ask the question: is this a FIFA or CAF competition?

We also take a little time to speak to Bassil Mikdadi of Football Palestine, who tells us about the challenges facing the Palestinian national team and its players.

Matchday 1, our first set of episodes of the African Five-a-side podcast, takes a look at African football’s most influential politicians. Before we name the five most important politicians in African football history, we will draw up a list of honorable mentions.

The father of Nigerian nationalism, Nnamdi Azikiwe, is the first name on the team sheet. In this episode, we dissect how he used the media and his own sports club to galvanize support for Nigerian independence during the goodwill tours of 1941 and 1942.

Algeria's first president, Ahmed Ben Bella, takes up a seat next to Azikiwe. Ben Bella was a footballer in his local city of Maghnia prior to the Second World War. When the war broke out, Ben Bella was stationed in Marseille. Prior to heavy fighting, he displayed his skills at the military base. His performances earned him a cameo with Chateau-Gombert and Olympique de Marseille.

Muammar Gaddafi is the final man on the bench. Although he wasn't the biggest football fan, there can be no denying that he understood how to instrumentalize football to serve his own political machinations. Professional sport was banned during the first years of his reign, and it only returned under certain conditions. According to legend, in his inaugural address during the opening ceremony of the 1982 Africa Cup of Nations, Gaddafi finished his speech curtly: “Now, I leave you with your stupid game.”

So that’s the eclectic group of fellows that make the bench of our first Five-a-side team.