Africa

The advertising blitz which controversial gambling operator 1XBet launched in Morocco in 2022 was so successful that the local gaming authority which finances the country’s grassroots and elite sport saw a decline in projected revenue for the first time. But Morocco is fighting back and could lead the way for the rest of Africa to follow suit.

With the promise of paying jobs, the families of David and Paul sold their properties to fund their travel to Qatar. They worked as security guards at a World Cup stadium. The Fifa World Cup subcontractor Stark Security never paid them. They had to sleep rough.

In 2018, according to documents seen by Josimar, the African Football Confederation (Caf) entered a ten year long sponsorship deal worth close to 60 million euro with controversial online bookmaker 1XBet. But Caf is now “re-evaluating” its business relationship with 1XBet, in a move that could cost millions for the cash-strapped confederation.

In December Molde sold Datro David Fofana to Chelsea for a reported 13 million euro, a new record for a transfer from a Norwegian club. But was Fofana Molde’s player? Or did the club steal the attacker from his Ivorian club Abidjan City FC?

They haven’t been paid salaries for the last two months. Meet two African security guards that work for a company that has several Fifa and World Cup assignments during the tournament in Qatar.

New Caf president Patrice Motsepe already has a nickname, “the new puppet of Zürich”. The Caf election demonstrated that African football is no longer in the hands of Caf, but controlled by Gianni Infantino himself.

A suspended FA president is running unopposed. And why has Fifa’s Head of Member Associations Veron Mosengo-Omba travelled to Comoros in the middle of the pandemic to make sure the election goes ahead on 30 January?

Fifa is turning a blind eye to strange events in Kenya. Is it because the reigning FA president Nick Mwendwa is an ally of Gianni Infantino?