It has been a big year for mixing sport and politics across the globe. The year started with the Beijing Winter Olympics, and ended with a football World Cup in Qatar that saw an African nation, Morocco, reach the semi-finals for the first time.

Below are some of the blog’s most interesting pieces about sport beyond the touchline.

In the following pieces, our authors explored how football can be used as an avenue for politics. In Ethiopia, The Addis Ababa football stadium is the home of political commentary. While in Ghana Football in Ghana can be an avenue for LBGTQI+ activism. 

Football can play a role in building communities, as shown in You’ll never walk alone in South Sudan, Football in Burundi is a tool for reconciliation and political legitimacy and Football as reconciliation in the aftermath of war. 

As well as identity: Diaspora diaries and football politics and Africans winning the World Cup? What ‘decolonisation by integration’ could teach us about black French identity.

Finally, we look at what Rwanda gains from sponsoring Arsenal Football Club: Rwanda and Arsenal: Why a budding developmental state is sponsoring a football team.

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