SPORT - The African Mirror

Apr

08

2026

When the Diamond Speaks: South Africa’s softball revolution arrives at Kempton Park

SPORT

THE 2026 Softball South Africa National Provincial Championship did not simply produce two deserving champions. It produced a statement - about where this sport has been, where it intends to go, and which generation of South Africans will take it there. Four days of fierce, sunlit competition at Kempton Park, Johannesburg, delivered the kind of theatre that reminds you why provincial sport, at its best, remains one of the most honest expressions of athletic identity anywhere in the world. Both finals were settled by margins thin enough to slide under a plate umpire's call. Both produced champions who had waited…

Apr

07

2026

By The African Mirror

Africa strikes first: Kebinatshipi blazes to world-leading 9.89s

ATHLETICS

THERE are moments in sport when a single number reshapes the entire conversation. On a searing afternoon at the Botswana National Trials, one such number was born: 9.89 seconds. That was the time Busang Collen Kebinatshipi clocked to win his heat in the men's 100 metres — a personal best, a national statement, and, most strikingly, the fastest time recorded anywhere in the world so far in 2026. The sprint had barely been run before the news was travelling across the continent and into the global athletics community: Africa was leading the world. Not on a Diamond League stage in…

Apr

03

2026

By SPORTS CORRESPONDENT

Roar of the Leopards: Congo back on football’s biggest stage after 52-year exile

FOOTBALL

IT came in the 100th minute, in the rain-drenched dark just west of Guadalajara, and it landed like thunder across 100 million souls. When Burnley defender Axel Tuanzebe bundled a corner over the line at Estadio Akron, and the referee's whistle confirmed what the VAR screen had taken an agonising 60 seconds to ratify, the Democratic Republic of Congo - the Leopards, the giants of Central Africa - were going back to the FIFA World Cup for the first time in 52 years. The final score was 1-0 over Jamaica in the intercontinental playoff. The meaning was immeasurable. In the…

Apr

01

2026

By SPORT CORRESPONDENTS

Life in prison, now FIFA’s crosshairs: Congress football boss, two officials face ethics hammer

FOOTBALL

FIFA has moved to compound the legal ruin of the Republic of Congo’s football’s disgraced leadership, opening formal ethics proceedings against the head of the Congolese Football Federation (FECOFOOT) and two of his senior officials - both of whom had already been sentenced to five years in a criminal court before the world governing body acted. The investigatory chamber of FIFA’s independent Ethics Committee confirmed on Wednesday that it has initiated disciplinary proceedings against FECOFOOT president Jean-Guy Blaise Mayolas, General Secretary Wantete Badji, and Finance Director Raoul Kanda — all in connection with alleged financial misconduct involving FIFA funds. FIFA’s…

Mar

31

2026

By RAMS MABOTE

LIV GOLF IN SA: Phumlani Maluka’s integrity shot

SPORT

AMERICAN sensation Bryson DeChambeau may have collected a cool US$4 million when the inaugural LIV Golf South Africa ended at the rain soaked yet packed to the rafters two Sundays ago, but he was not the only winner. The long-hitting DeChambeau, with his wire-to-wire lead, will be surprised to learn that on the sidelines, an unknown South Africans won hearts and minds with an act of kindness. On that final day of LIV South Africa, 30-year-old Phumlani Maluka, a volunteer marshall on Hole 12, was doing what he had been doing all day and in the three days before, raising…

Mar

30

2026

By The African Mirror

CAF pledges referee and judicial overhaul after AFCON final scandal

FOOTBALL

THE Confédération Africaine de Football (CAF) has announced sweeping reforms to its statutes and regulations governing referees, VAR operators and judicial bodies, in a direct acknowledgement that the incidents surrounding the TotalEnergies CAF Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) Morocco 2025 final exposed critical institutional failures. CAF President Dr Patrice Motsepe confirmed on Sunday that the reforms - described as "far-reaching" - would be implemented immediately, with the explicit aim of ensuring the final's controversies are never repeated. "These changes and improvements to the CAF Statutes and Regulations will also ensure that the unacceptable incidents that took place at the TotalEnergies…

Mar

28

2026

By ONGAMA GCWABE

Matthew Breetzke reveals brutal Proteas verdict from selector talks: “Not in their plans”

SPORT

With the 2027 ICC Men's Cricket World Cup not too far away, Proteas batter Matthew Breetzke has highlighted his determination to fight for a permanent spot across all three formats after being told by Convenor selector Patrick Moroney that his future in the national set-up is not set in stone yet. Conversation with Moroney In an exclusive interview with SportsBoom.co.za, Breetzke revealed that he has had a recent conversation with the Cricket South Africa Convenor selector, Patrick Moroney. Breetzke highlighted that Moroney made it clear that his future is not set in stone in the Proteas, in any of the formats. Now, one could…

Mar

27

2026

By The African Mirror

Senegal storms CAS as AFCON crisis lays bare a continent’s fractured football soul

FOOTBALL

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has confirmed that the Senegalese Football Federation (FSF) has formally lodged an appeal challenging one of the most convulsive rulings in African football history - the Confederation of African Football's (CAF) decision to retroactively strip Senegal of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) title and hand the trophy to tournament hosts Morocco. The appeal, registered at CAS's headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland, on 25 March 2026, formally asks the global sports arbitration tribunal to set aside CAF's March 17 decision entirely and restore Senegal as the rightful champions of AFCON Morocco 2025. The…

Mar

24

2026

By Jovial Rantao

How Mohamed Salah’s 9 year love affair with Liverpool finally kissed the desert sand

FOOTBALL

WELL, they said it couldn’t happen. They said the love was too deep, the bond too sacred, the goals too numerous. They said Mohamed Salah and Liverpool were written in the stars - a celestial pairing as permanent as the pyramids and as dependable as the Nile in flood season. They were wrong. On Tuesday, 24 March 2026, the sky fell in on Anfield. The Pharaoh announced his departure, and English football stopped breathing. It was not a leaked rumour from some dubious agent in a Dubai hotel lobby. It was not a cryptic Instagram post requiring football’s finest code-breakers…

Mar

24

2026

By The African Mirror

Steyn City writes history: Africa’s first LIV Golf triumph signals a continental sports revolution

SPORT

WHEN LIV Golf's convoy of world-class players, global broadcast trucks and an army of international visitors descended on Steyn City in Johannesburg this past weekend, they were not simply delivering a golf tournament. They were making history. Africa had never before hosted a LIV Golf event. By the time the final putt dropped and the galleries roared their approval, it was abundantly clear that it would not be the last. The inaugural LIV Golf Johannesburg has delivered everything its most optimistic backers dared to hope for - and then some. The numbers tell a breathtaking story: more than 100,000 international…