Oluwashina Okeleji

As a last-16 clash with Eng­land beck­ons, Nige­ria’s Women’s World Cup run has thrilled a cri­sis-hit coun­try.

A new book about marathon cham­pi­on Gideon Ha­gack tells a strange and lit­tle-known sto­ry of sport­ing in­jus­tice.

Tour­na­ment was an in­di­ca­tion of con­ti­nent’s growth, with Mo­roc­co’s run crown­ing im­pres­sive dis­plays by African teams.

Ex­pec­ta­tions of the At­las Li­ons are soar­ing as they pre­pare to make his­to­ry if they se­cure a spot in the semi-fi­nals.

The Cameroon­ian cap­tain and for­ward fi­nal­ly earned his stripes on the biggest stage.

This World Cup will be the third that the Teran­ga Li­ons have qual­i­fied for, and first as reign­ing African cham­pi­ons.

De­spon­dence and dis­ar­ray are rife in the Ghana team as the World Cup ap­proach­es.

African na­tions will have to punch above their weight as none has made it past the last-eight of the World Cup.

In Nige­ria, ex-play­ers al­lege they were dis­crim­i­nat­ed against by of­fi­cials over real or per­ceived sex­u­al pref­er­ences.

Ghana be­came first African na­tion to qual­i­fy for the 2022 World Cup, but its suc­cess was over­shad­owed by fan vi­o­lence.