SPORT - The African Mirror

Jun

02

2026

RSSB Tigers roar to historic BAL title

BASKETBALL

THE RSSB Tigers have done it, and they did it with just enough drama to keep the BK Arena roof from floating away. Rwanda’s pride outlasted Petro de Luanda 90-88 in a final that felt less like a basketball game and more like a tightrope act performed in sneakers, making the Tigers the first team from Rwanda to lift the Basketball Africa League crown. Craig Randall II was the man with the hot hand and the cold stare, dropping 36.1 points per game on the season and earning the Hakeem Olajuwon Trophy as BAL MVP. On a night when every…

Jun

02

2026

By WYCLIFFE W. NJORORAI SIMIYU

Africa at the World Cup: 10 teams, local coaches and tactical depth usher in a new era

FOOTBALL

THE 2026 men’s FIFA World Cup marks a seismic shift in the global football landscape. The decision to expand the final stage of the tournament from 32 teams to 48 has significantly benefited the Confederation of African Football (Caf). In 2018 and 2022, Africa was represented by five nations; this year, a record 10 teams will take the stage. They are, in order of their FIFA world ranking: Morocco (ranked 8), Senegal (14), Algeria (28), Egypt (29), Côte d'Ivoire (34), Tunisia (44), Democratic Republic of Congo (46), South Africa (60), Cape Verde (69) and Ghana (74). As a sport scientist…

May

29

2026

By SPORTS CORRESPONDENT

Ten lions roar: Africa’s historic World Cup armies named

FOOTBALL

THE squads have been named, the kits laid out, and the dreams of a continent crystallised into 26-man rosters. As the 2026 FIFA World Cup prepares to kick off on 11 June in Mexico City, Africa stands at a historic crossroads: for the first time in the tournament's 96-year history, the Confederation of African Football (CAF) will send ten nations to football's grandest stage. The expansion of the World Cup from 32 to 48 teams has opened a door that African football's advocates, coaches, and players have long agitated for. The result is a continental roll call of extraordinary breadth…

May

25

2026

By The African Mirror

KINGS OF AFRICA: Sundowns seize CAF championship in Rabat’s Lion Den

FOOTBALL

THERE are football nights that merely settle a title. Then there are football nights that write myths. Sunday evening at the Stade Prince Moulay Abdellah in Rabat was emphatically the latter - a contest of suffocating tension, heart-stopping reversals and, ultimately, sublime South African defiance that buried a decade of continental near-misses under a cascade of gold and navy confetti. Mamelodi Sundowns are, once again, kings of Africa. The Brazilians from Chloorkop claimed the 2025-26 CAF Champions League title with a 1-1 draw on the night, sealing a 2-1 aggregate victory over hosts AS FAR - and in doing so,…

May

25

2026

By SPORTS CORRESPONDENT

Cape Town burns in colour as African runners, led by Kipchoge, turn marathon into moving festival of speed and soul

ATHLETICS

THE Cape Town sky turned gold before dawn, and by the time the first elite runners stepped onto the starting line in Green Point, the city was already vibrating with colour and noise. The Sanlam Cape Town Marathon was no longer just a race; it had become a rolling festival of African running, of mountain light, and of a continent’s pride played out on the streets of the Mother City. From the start, the route carved a story. The field threaded past the Stadium, where the first roars of the day came not from the grandstands but from the crowds…

May

23

2026

By STACEY KAKEA, BIRD STORY AGENCY

The city that wakes up running

ATHLETICS

THE parking lot at Nairobi's KOFISI Square fills up well before 7:30 on a Saturday morning. Gone are the hangover sunglasses and bleary faces suggesting a big Friday night out. The people stretching against the curb, adjusting their running watches, or just standing and chatting as the sun rises, look fresh-faced and eager. Something has been changing here. Emily Chepkor is a lawyer and an 11-time marathoner. In October 2022, she was also the person who convinced three friends to join her for a Saturday morning run. "Nairobi is a party city, a feel-good city. We wait for Friday," she…

May

16

2026

By The African Mirror

F1, UFC and LIV Golf: Gayton McKenzie Sets Out Bold Vision for South African Sport

SPORT

SOUTH Africa’s Minister of Sports, Arts and Culture, Gayton McKenzie, has once again made bold promises regarding the future of sport in the country after tabling his departmental budget before Parliament. While reactions to the budget speech were mixed, one thing was clear, McKenzie wants to position South Africa as a major destination for international sporting events while also improving support for local athletes who have long struggled financially. Funding Struggles for Smaller Federations One of the strongest talking points from the minister was the lack of funding for smaller sporting codes. For years, athletes in lesser-funded sports have had to…

May

13

2026

By MARTA MOREIRAS, BIRD STORY AGENCY

Riding Waves, Rewriting Futures: The Surfer Changing Girls’ Lives in Senegal

SPORT

THE water off Ngor is moving in slow, regular sets as if it is breathing, folding and unfolding under a pale Atlantic sky. Light scatters across its surface, breaking into shifting patterns that blur the line between wave and horizon. A small group of girls is already out beyond the shore break, boards angled beneath them as they wait for the next set. They drift in place, adjusting their balance with the tide, watching the sea gather itself into form before releasing it again. When a wave rises, it does so without warning— pitching up fast, pulling the ocean into…

May

08

2026

By The African Mirror

Soweto Marathon under fire as Gerda Steyn, Joseph Seutloali still unpaid

ATHLETICS

MANFRED Seidler, the Hollywood Athletics Club (HAC) manager, has reiterated that the athletes’ livelihoods are affected in the cases of prize money not being paid on time, or at all, including the case of the 2025 Soweto Marathon, where HAC’s athletes, including Gerda Steyn and Joseph Seutloali, have yet to receive their prize money. African Bank Almost six months after the 2025 edition of the Soweto Marathon, the athletes who finished on the podium have yet to be paid their prize money. This is despite the main sponsor for the 2025 edition, African Bank, confirming on their social media platform that they…

May

03

2026

By The African Mirror

ATHLETICS: Gaborone makes history as Africa hosts the world

ATHLETICS

Records have tumbled, world leads have fallen, and 48 nations have earned their Beijing tickets as Botswana writes a new chapter in global athletics. All this took place on a blazing Saturday afternoon at the Debswana World Athletics Relays Gaborone 26, where history was not just made - but celebrated, lap by lap, baton by baton, in front of a roaring home crowd that understood exactly what this moment meant. For the first time in the competition's history, the World Athletics Relays had come to Africa. And Africa delivered a spectacle worthy of the occasion. The day's drama began even…