The just-concluded 35th AFCON edition held in Morocco showed that racial hierarchies and the legacy of colonialism continue to shape the continent profoundly. This is a continuation of the debate by the author of Why Africa Cup of Nations Final Fell Apart in Morocco.
In Africa, as across the Global South, football is more than a sport; it is a colonial imposition reclaimed through resistance and transformed into a profound expression of community. It creates moments of excitement and joy that unite divided societies, foster a sense of pride and belonging, and generate collective enthusiasm. For decades, the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) has offered people a vital outlet.
Despite the brutal realities many countries face—from imperial domination and proxy wars to ongoing neocolonial structures, economic exploitation, and systemic inequality—these tournaments produce lively atmospheres that celebrate Africa’s cultural diversity and richness. Each match carries stories, emotions, and tensions that together reflect the deep human desire for joy and the equally pressing wish for freedom.
But this is also a time we see collective reflections and mindsets shaped by racism, chauvinism, and colonial values. Continental confrontations between North African teams and other regions are often marked by inherited hierarchies and a sense of superiority, turning sporting rivalries into reflections of enduring historical prejudices.
Colonial Legacy and the Illusion of Superiority
The just-concluded 35th AFCON edition held in Morocco saw discourse of racial tensions in both speech and actions, with fan reactions to a match lost targeting those considered “inferior,” and regurgitating colonialist views that for centuries have portrayed Africans as ‘uncivilized and inferior’.
The chaotic finale between Morocco and Senegal put the spotlight on these tensions and questions about the unfinished work of decolonization. In the build-up to this moment, digital discourse across Africa exposed persistent racism and entrenched anti-Blackness. In the aftermath, Senegal and its players became targets of racialized attacks, framed through narratives of Black inferiority, while chauvinistic nationalist rhetoric escalated tensions and legitimized hostility. These online reactions underscored deep divisions within the continent and reinforced patterns that continue to position North Africa as separate from, and often above, the rest of Africa.
Africa has the richest mix of ethnicities and cultures, making it the most diverse of continents. However, colonial-era racist studies, particularly anthropological research, applied a biased and hostile gaze to every corner of the continent—treating diverse ethnicities and nations alike with prejudice and a sense of racial superiority. This served to justify colonization and plunder. Over time, it became internalized and adopted by reactionary groups within African societies to assert a false sense of superiority over other peoples.
Post-independence, imperial powers installed their agents through neocolonial mechanisms, perpetuating violence, exploitation, and division, and fostering conflicts that made continued control easier. Through chauvinistic nationalism—the most effective ideological tool of colonial domination—these ideas were reinforced, particularly in North Africa.
Persistent nationalist and racist logic in North Africa
In North Africa—including Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, and Egypt—chauvinist nationalism is strongly tied to structural racism toward other African peoples. This racism is not always direct or openly stated; it often works through cultural, political, and symbolic systems that preserve hierarchies and old patterns rooted in the history of slavery and colonization. During the 19th and 20th centuries, colonial rule established frameworks that shaped social and political life, while aggressive modernization and centralized governance in the post-independence period failed to dismantle these hierarchies. Over time, these patterns have been woven into modern national narratives, influencing how citizens view African identity and relationships with neighboring communities.
The formation of North African states followed complicated paths shaped by colonial rule, forced modernization, centralized governance, and the pursuit of international recognition as “stable” and “distinct” from the rest of Africa. Many of these countries emphasized closeness to Europe as a marker of value, while African belonging was often considered secondary, even burdensome. This duality—wanting connection to the continent yet striving for recognition in the “global” or European sphere—produces ongoing tensions in identity, evident in debates about African identity, migration policies, and stereotypes of “Black Africa,” as well as the strong attachment to sub-identities like Arab or Amazigh identity. New post-colonial systems reinforced policies that fomented identity conflicts and suppressed indigenous cultures, creating not only a distancing from African belonging but also an identity crisis that these states and the ruling elite could manipulate to consolidate their power.
The persistence of racism and the desire to distance oneself from African identity affect both everyday social life and larger political behavior. It creates a paradox: people want to belong to Africa and take part in continental events like football tournaments or political initiatives, yet socially and culturally, they often isolate themselves, influenced by internalized racism and deep-seated colonial thinking. This duality shapes attitudes, interactions, and policies, reinforcing divisions and undermining African unity.
Yet historically, North African countries also played essential roles in continental solidarity.
In the 1960s and 1970s, countries like Algeria, Egypt, Tunisia, and Libya supported revolutionary states in Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, and Angola, hosting leaders, refugees, and activists. Cultural events, such as the Pan-African Cultural Festival in Algeria, and granting asylum to members of the Black Panther Party and the families of revolutionary leaders like Patrice Lumumba and Kwame Nkrumah, once strengthened a shared African consciousness.
However, imperial interventions, the installation of neocolonial regimes, and ongoing external pressure gradually dismantled these alliances. Chauvinist and isolationist patterns returned, reinforced by contemporary representations of the “other,” especially Black Africans, as a tool for controlling populations and weakening cross-continental solidarity. States built national identities that prioritized separation from African liberation histories and emphasized superiority over other Africans, while positioning Europe as a model and center of political legitimacy.
Chauvinist nationalism in North Africa functions in multiple ways. It creates a sense of sovereignty and independence through symbols, imaginary national achievements, and large events, while the political and economic structures remain dependent on imperialist powers. It reproduces colonial logic internally, presenting the state as a “local manager” responsible for controlling populations, borders, and migration on behalf of powerful external actors.
Over the last two decades, the country has been framed as a “transit hub” and “security partner” in European Union migration policies. The 2022 Melilla massacre, where authorities killed African migrants at the Morocco-Spain border, is a fresh memory. Tunisia’s current government, over the past three years, has increasingly dismantled protections for refugees, asylum seekers and migrants, particularly Black people, with a dangerous shift towards racist policing, with the EU being complicit. In Libya, migrants live in precarious conditions and are subjected to violence and abuse, both inside and outside the country’s detention centres.
These states project discipline and superiority toward migrant African populations, using nationalism and racism as tools to maintain social and political order and to reinforce their image as a regional authority aligned with Europe rather than Africa. This weakens possibilities for African solidarity and has impacts on Black populations in North Africa, too.
Economic and social struggles are reframed as identity or cultural conflicts, redirecting popular frustrations toward marginalized groups rather than the structures that generate inequality and dependence.
Sporting events and political crises are moments when these patterns are most visible, and nationalism is activated to create a false consensus, legitimizes repressive measures, and presents the state as defending “national dignity” or sovereignty.
Revolutionary Alliances and Trajectories of African Unity
The scenes in Rabat during the January 18 AFCON final, and the debates surrounding the tournament, reopened important questions about Pan-Africanism. Unity can no longer be understood as something symbolic, limited to summits or sporting events. Instead, it must be seen as a project grounded in equality, mutual respect, and unconditional belonging. Every African should be able to live, move, and participate in any African country without being subjected to hierarchies, racialized assumptions, surveillance, or geopolitical privilege. Such a vision challenges the old patterns of exclusion that continue to shape the continent socially, politically, and culturally.
This growing awareness points toward the need for revolutionary alliances that extend beyond state-centered or neocolonial networks. The repeated crises that Africa faces—from occupations and proxy wars to racist violence and the plundering of resources—reveal the limits of neocolonial-state approaches and the fragility of structures imposed from outside.
Moreover, the continental tournament being sponsored by multinational companies like TotalEnergies shows how global capitalism turns popular culture into profit while destroying the environment and displacing communities in several countries whose flags fly under its logo. “The tournament is the perfect place to project the image of a clean corporate brand to billions of viewers,” notes Trust Kudzayi Chikodzo, a Zimbabwean climate justice campaigner. We must be concerned with extractivist corporations that turn collective joy and community pride into commodities through their greenwashing and sportswashing ventures—one of the most dangerous forms of soft domination.
To address these challenges, solidarity must be built across borders, linking people rather than regimes, and creating spaces where cooperation is based on shared struggle rather than imposed hierarchy. Football and other cultural arenas play a surprising yet crucial role in this process. These moments are not merely sporting events or celebrations; they become platforms for reflection, critique, and potential transformation.
When fans, communities, and activists observe injustices, exclusions, or manipulations during tournaments, they are engaging in a form of social education.
Much needed to draw connections between popular life, political decisions, and inherited systems of dominance. Sport becomes a lens to understand broader social and political realities, offering moments in which people can imagine and demand a different Africa.
We must build revolutionary alliances in the face of imperialism’s crisis and center Pan-Africanism as a lived ethic. Our alliances must be rooted in the idea that liberation is collective, that struggles in one part of the continent are connected to struggles everywhere, and borders, ethnicity, or historical hierarchies cannot dictate that solidarity.
The Africa Cup of Nations and similar cultural moments are opportunities to reimagine the continent’s future. They force a fundamental question to the forefront: Which Africa do we want, and what is in the way of that? The answer requires not only reflection but coordinated, transnational action that can turn awareness into revolutionary change.
Souad.S is a Pan-African feminist from occupied Western Sahara. Her work focuses on grassroots organizing and political education against colonialism, capitalism, racism and other forms of oppression.