Sport in Africa

Football is the most popular sport in almost all African countries, and in 2010 South Africa become the first African nation to host the world cup.^[1][2][3][4] Basketball is also reasonably popular throughout the continent. Some African nations, like Kenya and Ethiopia, are very dominant at long distance running, whilst north African countries such Algeria, Egypt and Tunisia are dominant in Handball, and countries such as Zimbabwe is mainly a Cricketing nation.^[5][6] Rugby and golf are reasonably popular in just a couple of African countries, though rugby is very popular in South Africa.^[7] African lack of success in international sports is due to lack of infrastructure.^{[8][9][10][11]}

Team sports

Association Football (also known as Soccer) is the most popular sport in almost all African Countries. African club teams compete in the CAF Champions League and CAF Confederation Cup. African national teams compete in the Africa Cup of Nations and also in the African Nations Championship for local teams.

Rugby union is popular in South Africa but also in Morocco, Namibia and some others countries. The major competition in the continent is the Africa Cup that contains the teams in the first level of African rugby, and African Development Trophy contains the teams in the second level. Only South Africa team compete in the intercontinental tournament, The Rugby Championship.

Cricket is a popular summer sport in the United Kingdom and has been exported to other parts of the former British Empire. Cricket has its origins in south east Britain. It is popular throughout England and Wales, and parts of the Netherlands. It is also popular in other areas and also played in northwest Europe. It is however very popular worldwide, especially in southern Africa, Australia, New Zealand and the Indian subcontinent.

handball and volleyball are popular especially in North Africa. basketball is popular in most of all Africa continent.

Other team sports like Cricket, water polo, roller hockey, and field hockey are also popular in some Eastern and South African countries.

Individual sports

Individual sports are also very important. In fact Africa have a major multisports competition called All-Africa Games that started in 1965 held in Brazzaville, Republic of the Congo.

The athletics is one of the major single competition in Africa. The most prestigious sporting event related to athletics is the African Athletics Championships.

Martial arts and Combat sport are too a major competitions in the continent.

Events

South Africa has hosted the 1995 Rugby World Cup, 2003 Cricket World Cup and 2010 FIFA World Cup.^[12][13] Africa has hosted six editions of the Pan Arab Games and five editions of the Mediterranean Games, whereas the 2022 Commonwealth Games are scheduled to be held in Durban, South Africa.

Notable continental tournaments are the African Games, Africa Cup of Nations, CAF Champions League, African Championships in Athletics, African Rally Championship and Sunshine Tour.

References

1. https://web.archive.org/20160214065238/https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/06/150624110200.htm. Archived from the original on February 14, 2016. Retrieved February 18, 2016. Missing or empty |title= (help)
2. "The History Of Soccer In Africa". NPR.org. 2010-06-09. Retrieved 2015-03-31.
3. "Africa, Football and FIFA: Politics, Colonialism and Resistance - Paul Darby - Google Books". Books.google.co.uk. Retrieved 2015-03-31.
4. "Sports and Games of the Ancients - Steve Craig - Google Books". Books.google.co.uk. Retrieved 2015-03-31.
5. "Cricket World Cup: How the South African media reacted to the Black Caps' win - Sport - NZ Herald News". Nzherald.co.nz. Retrieved 2015-03-31.
6. "The Nigerians bowled over by cricket - BBC News". Bbc.co.uk. 2015-03-22. Retrieved 2015-03-31.
7. "South African sport still divided by race | World news". Theguardian.com. Retrieved 2015-03-31.
8. Powell, Anita (2012-08-12). "African Countries: Olympic Medals Seem Elusive". Theroot.com. Retrieved 2015-03-31.
9. Kurt W. Jeffersona1. "Cambridge Journals Online - The Journal of Modern African Studies - Abstract - Sport in Africa: essays in social history edited by William J. Baker and James A. Mangan New York and London, Africana Publishing Company, 1987. Pp. xiii + 309. $49.50". Journals.cambridge.org. Retrieved 2015-03-31.
10. "Olympics: Why Africa fell by the wayside". CNN.com. 2012-08-14. Retrieved 2015-03-31.
11. Djanie, Akua. "Why Did Africa Come To The London Olympics?". Newafricanmagazine.com. Retrieved 2015-03-31.
12. Charles P. Korr (2013-12-05). "Nelson Mandela saw sport as way to connect S. Africans". Usatoday.com. Retrieved 2015-03-31.
13. "For Nelson Mandela, sports were major weapon against racism". CNN.com. 2013-12-06. Retrieved 2015-03-31.