Before the June 18 South Africa-Czechia match at the ongoing FIFA World Cup, South Africa’s captain Ronwen Williams responded directly to online attacks against the players and the team. The criticism, primarily from other Africans, was directed towards South Africa’s anti-immigrant and xenophobic approach to residents from other African countries. He said he hoped football could unite players and that they should “enjoy and have a wonderful time, and we leave politics to the politicians”. The incident reinforced the growing conditionality that marks African support for African teams, a shift that has become more visible in recent years.Pan-African solidarity has long been a feature of previous sporting tournaments. Only a handful of nations participate in global competitions, and even fewer are competitive. That is why Africans have embraced previous deep tournament runs, from Cameroon (1990), Senegal (2002) and Ghana (2010) making the quarterfinals, to Morocco becoming the first African team to reach the semifinals in 2022. This solidarity has meant that even fans barred from travel by economic circumstance or visa restrictions could still count on the rest of the continent to show up in support.But the 2026 World Cup, where a record 10 African nations are participating, has shown the limits of this solidarity and the growing willingness of fans to judge teams through politics. …
