African Five-a-side

Welcome to a new year in African football! We kick off year 2 of the African Five-a-side podcast with the first edition of the African Football-Round up and looking ahead to the upcoming international break! This year we'll be rotating guest hosts, and for our first show, we have brought on Salim Masoud Said to talk about Regragui, Morocco, Saintfiet, Mali, McKinstry, The Gambia, Algeria and Tanza...

The 2024 Paris Olympics are over, and it's almost time for the beginning of another footballing season. We quickly recap how African countries did at the Olympics and highlight five Africans that have switched clubs that could impress this season in their respective leagues.

In this episode, we discuss women's welterweight boxing at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games and how Imane Khelif has found herself in the middle of a culture war with people calling her 'male' or 'trans'. We try to rectify some of those lies and delve into who Khelif is as a person My take on the bullying Imane Khelif has faced: https://africasacountry.com/2024/08/rolling-with-the-punches Check out Af...

In just a matter of week, Rhulani Mokwena left his job at Mamelodi Sundowns and signed with Wydad Casablanca. Is this a great rebound for Africa's best young tactician or is it a case of happy feet?

We now know who is in what group of the 2025 Afcon qualifiers, and so we decide to do a group-by-group preview of the qualifiers with some initial thoughts just a few months before they kick-off

In this new episode of the African Five-a-side podcast, we preview the upcoming international break as the African continent gets set to host the FIFA 2026 World Cup qualifiers. Some of the dominant narratives take place in Cameroon, Egypt, Algeria and Morocco.

In the second leg of the 2023/2024 CAF Champions League, Al Ahly beat Esperance de Tunis 1-0. Ramy Rabia forced an own goal in the opening five minutes, giving Al Ahly their 12th Champions League title. Host Maher Mezahi analyzed the match to cap off our Champions League coverage.

*WE APOLOGISE ABOUT THE AUDIO QUALITY OF THIS EPISODE, WE MADE A ONE-TIME MISTAKE THAT WON'T HAPPEN AGAIN* Please check out www.africasacountry.com Esperance de Tunis and Al Ahly are set to battle it out during the second leg of the CAF Champions League final in Cairo. The first leg finished 0-0 in Tunis and with the away goals rule still in effect, all is to play for.

Prior to the CAF Champions League final, we speak to Al Ahly fan Ahmed Assem about the prospects of the Red Devils securing their record-extending 12th title in the competition. We also ponder the existence of football DNA and ask: What makes Al Ahly Al Ahly?

In the second leg of the 2023/2024 CAF Champions League, Esperance de Tunis and Al Ahly put in mature performances and managed to qualify past TP Mazembe and Mamelodi Sundowns

This week we look back on what exactly happened between USM of Algiers and RS Berkane in the semi-final of the CAF Confederation Cup. Their scheduled match was never actually played because of a political controversy that we try to explain

During the first leg of the 2023/2024 CAF Champions League semi-finals, Esperance de Tunis nullified Mamelodi Sundowns' attacking threat and managed to win by a goal at home. Meanwhile Al Ahly left Lubumbashi with a nil-nil draw

We're into the final four of the 2023/2024 CAF Champions League and so this episode of the African Five-a-side podcast delves into a preview of Saturday's matches between Esperance de Tunis and Mamelodi Sundowns and TP Mazembe versus Al Ahly.

The second leg of the quarterfinals of the 2023/2024 CAF Champions League took place on Saturday evening as TP Mazembe travelled to Luanda to take on Petro and Esperance travelled to Abidjan to take on ASEC Mimosas. The Congolese and Tunisian champions came away victorious on the evening and now set up juicy quarterfinals against Al Ahly and Sundowns in two weeks' time.

Friday night's two matches had very different tones. While Tanzania's Yanga pushed AFL champions, Mamelodi Sundowns to the brink, their compatriots, Simba, couldn't muster up the same fight vs Al Ahly of Egypt. In this episode we discuss the general ideas of idealism versus pragmatism and if Sundowns are fit to overcome mental hurdles

The first quarterfinal of the 2024 CAF Champions League took place on Friday evening between Simba and reigning champions, Al Ahly. It was a frustrating match for the hosts who peppered the Egyptian goal with countless chances, but could not convert a single one of them. We look back on the match and ponder themes such as collective psychology and what ask what the return leg has in store for us.

Two months on from the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations we have our first international window since the big tournament. We take a look at the state of 9 national teams and how they've attacked the post-Afcon period

As the holy month of Ramadan begins, we ask a few questions about its place in professional football. Does fasting impede optimal athletic performance? How can clubs or leagues accommodate fasting players and make them feel welcome?

The draw for the 2024 CAF Champions League took place a couple days ago, and so we finally have our quarterfinal matchups. We take a preliminary look at each of the matches and give our thoughts.

As we prepare for the draw of the 2023/2024 CAF Champions League knockout stages, we decided to take a look at five up-and-coming youngsters that will be looking to impress and help their clubs to Africa's most prestigious trophy this year.

With no quarterfinalists at the 2023 African Cup of Nations in Cote d'Ivoire and only 2 club sides in the quarterfinals of the 2024 CAF Champions League, the internet is telling us that North African football is on the decline. We take a forensic look at the performances of the national teams and the club sides and determine if this is a general geographic trend or if this is a case-by-case basis...

In this episode of the African Five-a-side podcast, we look back on what has been an enthralling six matchdays of the 2024 CAF Champions League. In this year's competition, teams that have defended well have been rewarded, and after this weekend the competition will finally begin!

We're back after an Afcon hangover and for our first episode back, we talk about the 2024 Summer Olympic Games qualifiers in African women's football. Before we pick our winners, we talk about the fact that 29/54 of the sides in Africa failed to even enter their teams for qualifying. You can read more on Cote d'Ivoire's failure to field a team here: https://africasacountry.com/2024/02/a-forgotten-...

On the weekend after the final of the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, we delve into where all 24 teams go from here. For some, like Senegal, little change is necessary. For others, such as Cameroon or Algeria, much change is needed, but can the changes be carried out successfully?

After several peaks and valleys, Cote d'Ivoire sealed their tournament by beating Nigeria in the Afcon final, 2-1. Nigeria took a first-half lead into the break after William Troost-Ekong scored off of a corner. But in the second half Simon Adingra and Sebastien haller dominated for the hosts, scoring and assisting the goals that would give them their third star.