African Five-a-side

Angola make their return to the Africa Cup of Nations with coach Pedro Goncalves at their helm. Goncalves led the Angola U17 team to a Round of 16 berth at the U17 World Cup in 2019. Now he takes that same generation of players, with a few experienced players to Cote d'Ivoire to try and build on that success. We speak to Eurico Costa who breaks down Angola's expectations for us. You can follow Eur...

After a disastrous 2021 Afcon, and an improved 2022 FIFA World Cup performance, Ghanaian fans head into the 2023 Afcon with a healthy dose of skepticism. Over the last six months, Ghana have really struggled to score and have been known as a cautious outfit under Chris Houghton. The solution? We spoke Ghanaian journalist Gary Al Smith to see what it is that he'd recommend. You can follow Gary on T...

After missing out on the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations, South Africa are returning to Africa's biggest party with some renewed confidence. Part of that is due to the success of Mamelodi Sundowns in Interclub competitions, and another part of it is the good work Belgian coach, Hugo Broos, has done with Bafana Bafana. To discuss all of this we speak to SABC journalist Velile Mnyandu. You can follow Vel...

During the 2022 FIFA World Cup, Morocco shocked the world when they became the first African nation to qualify for the semi-finals. Walid Regragui and co played organised, coherent football and are naturally favourites for the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations in Côte d'Ivoire. To speak about Morocco, we invited Amine El Amri, a journalist that writes for Le Matin newspaper in Morocco. You can follow Ami...

How will the Carthage Eagles fare in Côte d'Ivoire? The North Africans have perfected the art of qualifying for the Afcon - they haven't missed a tournament since 1992. Yet, they are also to win the tournament off of home soil. We talk to Arafat Hamrouni, a Tunisian journalist that works for www.foot24.tn about how Tunisians are bored of the same old small successes and how they really want to mak...

The Nigerian Super Eagles come to Côte d'Ivoire with one of the most stacked squads in the tournament, especially in attack. Yet, results in recent times have been disappointing. We speak to one of the most well-respected journalists in Africa, Oluwashina Okeleji, about Nigeria and their prospects in the upcoming Afcon.

Egypt were Afcon finalists in 2017 and 2021. They missed out on the last Afcon title and the 2022 World Cup after losing to Senegal in penalty shoot-outs. So what does this year's Egypt look like? Are they a continuation of those sides which were much more pragmatic, or - under the tutelage of their new coach, Rui Vitoria - are they more a callback to the golden age of Egyptian football? To dissec...

As we close in the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, the African Five-a-side podcast has decided to put aside matchdays for now and, instead, focus on previewing every.single.team that will compete in the tournament. First up? Algeria. The 2019 champions have had a tough two years, so we invited Hamza Rahmani - a commentator for Bein Sports - to come on and break down how confident Algeria are at the mo...

"Kenneth Kaunda was a rarity: an African President who not only backed football, but [also] actually liked it" - David Goldblatt. In the final episode of Matchday 1 of the African Five-a-side podcast, we profile Zambia's first president, Kenneth Kaunda. Kaunda so loved football and supported the national teal that they were nicknamed the "KK11" in honour of him. We also explore how Kaunda got para...

The 2023 CAF Awards were largely uneventful, and so this week we're using the African Football Round-up for some tier talk. We take a brief look at the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations which will kick-off in about a months' time and categorise the 24 teams into four categories: favourites, contenders, dark horses, and "happy to be here".

1958 Ahmed Sekou Touré campaigned so that Guineans would vote "No" in a referendum on whether to adopt the new French constitution or reject it and opt for independence. As the first leader of independent Guinea, Touré focused on wide-ranging educational reform which included encourage sport for the masses at a grassroots level. Yet, after witnessing the success of Kwame Nkrumah's Black Stars...

With the 2023 CAF Awards just a week away, Maher Mezahi explains that he was selected as part of a media panel to vote on the awards and reveals how he voted.

In this episode we'll revisit John Obi Mikel's appearance on Rio Ferdinand's podcast where he talks about family manipulation. From there we trace some of the challenges star African footballers face on a day-to-day basis and why that can make them vulnerable, but also capable of much more than your average footballer. Side note: Apologies for not releasing a podcast last Monday, I was in Tunis on...

Episode 3 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 striker: the practical and manipulative Mobutu Sese Seko After consolidating power in Congo-Kinshasa during the Congo Crisis, Mobutu utilised a spike in copper to invest in the national football team, following...

In this episode of the African Football Roundup we recap the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers in Africa and outline some of the good we saw as well as some of the bad. Egypt, Senegal and South Africa displayed reasons for optimism. Egypt under Rui Vitoria are one of Africa's most coherent sides, Senegal have a new midfield pairing with Pape Matar Sarr and Lamine Camara - that's not fair. And with th...

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 ensure...

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 Iv...

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...

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...

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 except...

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 n...

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 me...