The Africa Cup of Nations group stage draw was released on Friday at the Talatona Convention Centre in Luanda with the hosts Angola being drawn in a somewhat easy Group A alongside Algeria, Mali and Malawi. This tournament will be a must win for the 'Palancas Negras' after they failed to reach the Finals of the FIFA World Cup in South Africa.

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Egypt suspended its membership of the Union of North African Football Federations on Thursday, complaining that Algerian fans had thrown stones at their supporters during the country's World Cup exit. The Egyptian Football Federation wrote to its counterparts in Algeria, Libya, Morocco and Tunisia charging that its fans had come under . Click to continue reading...

For many in England, last week's news that the Premier League would not be inviting Rangers or Celtic to join anytime soon was a welcome relief. After all, the Premier League has already done enough damage in some eyes to the traditional feel of English football, despite unquestionably expanding the international reach of the English game.

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Big Story

While FIFA's decision to seed the European group playoff match-ups—basically a mulligan for underachieving powerhouses Portugal, France and Russia—worked according to plan, along came Egypt to remind us all why football is a sport like no other.

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I may be making a wild statement here, but hear me out.� � I really in my heart believe that this time next year Argentina will still be basking in the glory of a third world cup triumph!

Sometimes I make myself laugh, but I think they will do better than anyone expects them to.� Their dramatic qualification could be just the thing that spurs them on to big things next summer.

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Things are still pretty tight in World cup qualifiers in Africa especially in group b. Tunisia lead this group with 11 points two ahead of Nigeria. The final round of matches will be played on November 14th and it will be do or die� for the Super Eagles.

Nigeria who last appeared in this tournament in 2002, will definitely want to prove that they still have what it takes to compete at the highest level.

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Chelsea and Côte d'Ivoire striker Didier Drogba has set his sights firmly on World Cup glory with his home nation.� The powerful striker, regarded by many as the best frontman in the world, scored the equalising goal that secured the Cote d'Ivoire's place in South Africa and admitted he has grandiose plans for the tournament next summer.

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For all African football fans out there it is great to know that powerhouse Ivory Coast are through to the Finals of the world cup thanks to none other Didier Drogba. His 67th minute equaliser in Malawi was enough to send the Elephants down South for the biggest tournament� on the face of the� earth.

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New football book titles out this month include an autobiography of former Saints' icon Matt Le Tissier Taking The Tiss: My Autobiography, a biography of Eric Cantona Cantona: The Rebel Who Would Be King and a book on African football Feet Of The Chameleon.
Other new books published in September are Celtic's Lost Legend an autobiography from George Connelly and No Smoke, No Fire by David Jones, an account of the false accusations of child abuse brought against the former Stockport County, Southampton, Wolves and now Cardiff manager. Click to continue reading...

Roger Milla burst onto the big stage at the grand old age of 38 when he scored four never-to-be-forgotten goals for Cameroon at the 1990 FIFA World Cup Finals in Italy. Capturing headlines all over the globe for his impressive displays en route to a memorable quarter-final defeat to Sir Bobby Robson's England, Milla captured the hearts of the public with his spontaneous corner flag dancing routine in celebration of each of his goals.

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The World Cup is not leaving Africa. Not for another six years at least. The only other team that stands a chance of wining the cup is Brazil. Either way, history will be made in South Africa. I say this with no disrespect.

Here's why. Brazil is aiming at getting their sixth title – no other team on the face of the planet comes close to that record.

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It's been some time since my last post so let's catch up on some news from the 2010 World Cup and African football, shall we?
First off, some self-promotion ... my post on Africans in the UEFA Champions League from earlier today ... don't you dare miss it!
- Are you interested in the upcoming African Cup of Nations in Angola? Click to continue reading...

The shot makes African football look so happy.
Dirty Tackle has a post that knows better. Apparently the head coach of the Kenyan national team has gone missing.
WTF? Click to continue reading...

Let's face it we're all guilty of not paying enough attention to African football. I don't say that because I believe in equal time for all the world's leagues and federations, but because I feel the true madness of African football is going under-appreciated.

Case in point, here's how an article from the Daily Nation about the disappearance of Kenyan national team (also known as the Harambee Stars) manager Antoine Hey.

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Inter Milan coach Jose Mourinho has long been a strong advocate of African football, buying the rights to such players as Ghana's Michael Essien and Nigeria's Salomon Kalou at Chelsea and Ghana's Sulley Muntari at Inter.�
Now, the Special One is in Nigeria as a special guest of the Kwara Football Academy (KFA). Click to continue reading...

It's all over. The 2009 Confederations Cup is in the books and Brazil reigns supreme as the greatest team in the world.
Ok, maybe not. Or maybe so ... Hard to tell. What does the Confederations Cup really mean?
One thing the Cup does is serve as a dress rehearsal for the 2010 World Cup. Click to continue reading...

I still remember the 26th of June 2003. It was the summer holidays after my first year of university. The sun shone brightly, which isn't necessarily a given during English summers, the girls were... Click to continue reading...

Abiel Tabor (right) lifts the Nigerian title hours before his murderThe ongoing troubles in the Niger Delta region of Bayelsa State, Nigeria were tragically underlined this week with the murder of... Click to continue reading...

In the world of football, nothing can be taken for sure and usually a player saying he will stay leaves a week later. But, in a complete interview published by marca.com, Arsenal striker Emmanuel Adebayor spoke about his present, his future and again said he will not leave the North London club.

He said:

I have always said that I am happy with Arsenal, I am tired of saying so.

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Al-Merreikh - Sudanese spiritThe African Champions League is back on our radars at the moment after the draw for the tournament's 2009 final eight group stage took place last week.And while... Click to continue reading...

Something, apparently, since the AFP Foundation is launching a FIFA-backed "training program" for several hundred African football reporters and photographers in advance of the World Cup. The program involves eight cities, where journalists from all 53 African countries will convene for two one-week courses in Arabic, French, English, or Portuguese.

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The African nations have been steadily improving over the last decade or so and the World Cup in 2010 represents a good chance for one of the stronger sides to emerge victorious. The Ivory Coast, Cameroon and Nigeria are the ‘heavyweights' of African football but Egypt, Tunisia and Senegal also possess some talent and should not be dismissed.

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Egyptian giants Al-Ahly became outright the most successful club in African Champions League history this weekend, drawing 2-2 in Cameroon against runners up Cotonsport Garoua to emerge 4-2 winners on aggregate. After a 2-0 win over the Cameroonians at the Cairo International Stadium two weeks ago Al-Ahly were overwhelming favourites to win the tie going into the second leg and they did just Click to continue reading...

Cotonsport Garoua were only founded twenty-two years ago but have come on leaps and bounds in African football during that short period and go into the final of the 2008 CAF African Champions League looking to make history by winning their first ever continental trophy. However the task at hand could hardly be more daunting given their opponents. Click to continue reading...

The remaining twenty teams in contention for a spot at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa learnt their fate yesterday, as the final group draw was made in Zurich. The teams were seeded based on their most recent FIFA World rankings and split into five groups of four. Teams will play each other twice, with group winners advancing to the party in South Africa in two years time. Click to continue reading...

Back in January we spent a month covering the 2008 Africa Cup of Nations on WCB. The three things I took away from this were: 1) African football is on the rise, 2) Manucho is a damn fine footballer, and 3) There's not nearly enough written about African football. What I mean by 3) is that [...] Click to continue reading...

Growing up as a football mad teenager, the weekly purchase of Guerin Sportivo was a must. The Italian magazine was cheap enough and, in any case, I could easily get the money for it off my parents with the excuse that it was helping me learn Italian.
But what made it such a must read in the eyes of a kid fed up with the banalities that proliferated what were roughly the English equivalents of Match and Shoot was the serious edge to its writing. Click to continue reading...

The following interview with Nigerian legend and captain of the national team Nwanko Kanu was conducted by African football magazine New African Soccer and reprinted here with their permission. The magazine is free to download. Nigeria went into the Beijing Olympics football tournament confident that they will do well. Click to continue reading...

I know, I know. I promised 31 straight days of posts and what happened?
Anyways, I'm here.
As you know, I also write for New African Soccer magazine.
What is that? According to the site:
New African Soccer Magazine is the only monthly English language magazine and ezine dedicated to African football. Click to continue reading...

Cause and effect. It's something we learned about as young kids.
Now, we get to see cause and effect in motion in the world of professional football.
The cause: The rise of African football, coupled with the advent and wide use of satellite teleivion.
The effect? Click to continue reading...

We talked about juju, the art of African witchcraft about a year ago on this blog.
Back then, we stated that

it has long been common for soccer teams to turn to witchcraft, or juju, to gain a competitive edge. Teams might, for example, summon witch doctors to cast spells on opposing teams.

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African football often gets pushed aside in the international footballing press.
It's either too foreign to most journalists or not interesting enough for their tastes.
That's one reason today's piece about the Al Ahly-Zamalek derby in the Guardian was such a pleasure to see. Click to continue reading...

Some news to read as you get arrested for bad dancing: Football relocation horror stories, with humor (Financial Times) BBC exposes African football conmen. (BBC News) Oguchi Onyewu is now officially Belgian. And missing. And Michael Bradley is expensive (Americans Abroad) An interview with the guy who was scored on by Thierry Henry in that Chinatown [. Click to continue reading...

I'm back from my travels in Spain and happy to see them doing so well in the European Cup.
But what struck me today after almost two weeks away was this interesting article about an alternative World Cup from today's Guardian.
According to the article, this cup, dubbed the Viva World Cup is 'an inter-national competition designed for countries that remain unrecognized by FIFA'. Click to continue reading...

Will the upsets in African football have an influence in the results for this region in this live online and radio commentary World Cup 2010 qualifier between Belize and Mexico live as the smaller home team try to create one of the biggest shocks in world football by beating a buoyant Mexican national team? Click to continue reading...