About this episode

The episode discusses the intersection of Africa's football spirit with the upcoming 2026 World Cup, highlighting controversies and opportunities for African teams.

Africa's football spirit meets the 2026 World Cup buzz, controversy, and opportunities. The tournament is a landmark moment for African football, coming four years after Morocco became the first African team to reach a World Cup semi-final at the Qatar edition in 2022. But even before the games begin, the tournament has been shrouded in controversy after the US denied Somali referee Omar Artan entry into the country. Omar was one of six referees from Africa appointed by FIFA for this year's World Cup. We speak to former Ghana international player Jonathan Mensah and former Ugandan international women's footballer, Jean Manayega Sseninder to unpack the opportunity for the 10 African competitors in the tournament. And, a remote Kenyan community embarks on a mission to empower young girls with vocational skills. Presenter: Nkechi Ogbonna Producers: Godwin Asediba and Blessing Aderogba Technical Producer: Maxwell Onyango Senior Producer: Keikantse Shumba Editors: Charles Gitonga and Maryam Abdalla

People in this episode

Host: Nkechi Ogbonna

Guests: Jonathan Mensah, Jean Manayega Sseninder

Topics covered

• African football
• 2026 World Cup
• referee controversy
• opportunities for African teams
• empowerment of young girls

Keywords

• Africa
• World Cup
• football
• referee
• opportunity
• controversy
• vocational skills
• young girls
• Morocco
• Somalia

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: FIFA

Places: Somalia, Morocco, Qatar

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