标签： Africa

A career defined by dramatic highs and humbling lows has come to a close, as former Premier League forward Saido Berahino has announced his retirement from professional football at the age of 31, shifting his full focus to a new role as a coach with Burundi’s senior national men’s team.

Raised in the English Midlands after arriving as a young refugee from Burundi, Berahino launched his professional journey through the youth academy of West Bromwich Albion, the boyhood club that would shape the early stages of his career. The forward exploded onto the top-flight scene during the 2014-15 season, netting 20 goals across Premier League and domestic cup competitions to cement his reputation as one of England’s most promising young attacking talents. That breakout campaign earned him a high-profile £12 million transfer to Stoke City in January 2017, a move that would mark the start of a sharp downturn in his playing career.

The striker had already struggled for consistent form during his final months at West Brom under manager Tony Pulis, but his performance at Stoke fell even shorter of expectations. Just 15 months after his arrival, Stoke suffered relegation from the Premier League in April 2018. A brief resurgence under then-manager Gary Rowett, where he scored five goals during the 2018-19 campaign, was not enough to keep him in the first-team picture, and he reached a mutual agreement to terminate his contract three years early, leaving the club in August 2019.

Following his exit from Stoke, Berahino bounced around a series of clubs across Europe and beyond: he spent two seasons in Belgium with Zulte Waregem and Charleroi before joining former West Brom manager Darren Moore at Sheffield Wednesday in August 2021. Later stints included spells at clubs in Cyprus, India, and Slovenia, as he wound down his playing career while also representing Burundi at the international level. Notably, Berahino represented England at every youth level up to under-21, and earned two call-ups to the full England senior squad under former manager Roy Hodgson, but never earned a senior cap for his adopted country. Across his entire professional club career in Europe, he scored 72 goals, and added two more in 23 appearances for Burundi.

Berahino paid special tribute to his boyhood club West Brom, where he scored 36 goals in 121 appearances across all competitions – including a hat-trick on his first senior start for the club, a 2013 EFL Cup fixture against Newport County when he was just 20 years old.

In a public statement titled “A Letter To The Game” posted to his Instagram account, Berahino reflected on his unlikely journey from a young refugee to the top of English football. “I want to thank West Bromwich Albion for believing in me when I was a boy. Those years at the club, the goals, the fans, the moments, they will always be special. There were highs and lows, mistakes and lessons. I learned that the game can lift you up and test you at the same time,” he wrote.

Announcing his transition, he added: “The time has come to hang up the boots. My body and my heart are ready for the next chapter. I am proud and grateful to now serve the Burundi national team as a coach. Giving back to the country that made me, and helping the next generation, feels right.

“To my family – you have been my strength. To the fans who stayed with me through every chapter – I will never forget your support. This is not goodbye to football. It is simply the end of one story and the beginning of another. Football has given me everything. From the streets of Bujumbura to The Hawthorns, from the Premier League to places I never imagined I’d play – this game carried a young refugee kid through life.”

The global rugby community is in mourning following the sudden, tragic death of 31-year-old Hyron Andrews, a former second-row for the Johannesburg-based Lions and English Premiership side Sale Sharks. Andrews passed away at the Lions’ team hotel in La Rochelle, France, on Saturday morning, just hours before the club was set to compete in their European Champions Cup fixture against French side La Rochelle.

SA Rugby confirmed in an official statement that Andrews’ death was the result of an accidental fall, shocking players, staff, and fans across the sport. The experienced lock had only returned to his native South Africa over the summer to join the Lions after a brief stint with Sale in the English Premiership. He arrived at Sale from the Durban Sharks back in February 2024 as an injury replacement for England international Jonny Hill, and went on to make 45 appearances for the northern English club before departing at the end of last season.

In a heartfelt tribute, Lions chief executive Rudolf Straeuli expressed the franchise’s deep grief over the loss of one of their newest, most cherished squad members. “We are heartbroken by the passing of Hyron,” Straeuli said. “He was not only a gifted rugby player, but also a cherished member of our Lions family having recently joined us this season. On behalf of our chairman, Mr Altmann Allers, the board and everyone at the Lions, I extend our deepest sympathies to [Andrews’ wife] Maighlin, their young sons Hendrix and Emerson and the entire Andrews family. We stand with them in their sorrow and will remember Hyron with great affection and respect.”

Mark Alexander, president of the South African Rugby Union, echoed that sentiment, describing the loss as “devastating” for the entire South African rugby ecosystem. “This is terrible and distressing news; our hearts go out to Hyron’s family and the whole Lions rugby community,” Alexander said. “There are no words to adequately convey our shock and the depth of sympathy we feel for his wife Maighlin, and for his extended family, friends, team-mates and loved ones during this time of immense sorrow. His untimely passing is a devastating loss, and we share in the grief of all who knew and loved him.”

Sale Sharks’ director of rugby Alex Sanderson also paid tribute to the lock, highlighting his warm personality and the impact he made on the club during his short time in Manchester. “Hyron was just a brilliant guy and a brilliant team-mate,” Sanderson said. “He was so skilled on the field but off it, he was always someone you would want to have a beer with. He was funny and charismatic in his own unique, dry way and the lads, to a man, loved playing with him and being around him. It was a big move for Hyron and his wife Maighlin to come to England, but he truly made a second home in Manchester. It was incredible to see how he and his family embraced the club and area. Most importantly, he was a loving husband to Maighlin and a doting father to his two gorgeous boys. It was an absolute privilege to get to know him and it’s just absolutely devastating for everyone.”

In a decision to honor Andrews’ legacy, the Lions confirmed they would proceed with Saturday’s Champions Cup fixture against La Rochelle, kicking off at 17:30 BST, with all opening-round matches across the competition set to hold a minute’s silence ahead of kickoff to commemorate the lock. This tragedy marks 10 years since another high-profile sudden death ahead of a Champions Cup fixture, when Munster head coach Anthony Foley passed away in his sleep in Paris at the age of 42 ahead of a clash against Racing 92. To mark the anniversary, Munster players will wear special commemorative warm-up tops featuring Foley’s iconic number 8 ahead of their own fixture against Racing 92 on Saturday.

Andrews began his professional rugby career at the Durban-based Sharks, where he shared the pitch with a number of South Africa’s 2019 Rugby World Cup winning squad, including captain Siya Kolisi, Eben Etzebeth, and Lukhanyo Am. Though he never earned a senior cap for the Springboks, he represented South Africa at the junior international level, turning out for the Junior Springboks in 2015.

The Lions, who earned their place in the Champions Cup after a strong start to their United Rugby Championship campaign, are making their first appearance in Europe’s top club competition after South African sides were admitted to continental European competition in 2022-23. The Johannesburg side have won two of their first three URC matches this season, including a stunning opening-round victory over defending champions Leinster, with Andrews featuring in all three fixtures. He made his first starting appearance for the franchise in their most recent match, a 57-15 defeat to the Bulls.

Just days before his death, Andrews gave an interview to the Mapantsula a Rugby Show, where he spoke about adjusting to life in Johannesburg and prioritizing time with his family. “We work hard here, it’s good to decompress, get away and spend some time with the family,” he said. “When the family is happy, you are happy and it shows when you go to work.”

Top-tier Test cricket, billed as one of the most highly anticipated matchups of the southern hemisphere cricket calendar, has hit a major stumbling block in South Africa after alarmingly low turnout for the opening Test of a three-match series against Australia in Durban.

Even with two of the world’s top-ranked sides – reigning World Test champions South Africa and the world’s number one Test team Australia – taking the field across five days of play, total attendance across the entire match barely crept under 20,000. For context, a concurrent South African Premier Division Cup final between Orlando Pirates and Mamelodi Sundowns held across the same city pulled in more than 50,000 spectators, highlighting the stark gap in public draw between the two biggest sports in the country.

Heinrich Strydom, chief executive of the KwaZulu-Natal Cricket Union, the governing body that hosts matches at the Durban ground, has publicly acknowledged the scale of the disappointment and announced a full internal review to identify the root causes of the low turnout. “A Test match of this quality deserved greater support in the stands. This is something we will reflect on through a thorough internal review,” Strydom said in a statement following the match. “We need to listen to our supporters, reconnect with our communities and continue to find ways to make Test cricket more accessible, engaging and appealing. Test cricket is part of our sporting heritage and its future depends on all of us.”

Strydom added that while organizers recognize cricket fans face increasing competing demands for both their limited leisure time and discretionary income, the governing body needs a clearer understanding of what drives fans’ decisions to skip live matches – and what changes can be made to position Test cricket as a must-attend live experience. Declining attendance at Test matches is not an issue unique to South Africa; global audiences for the five-day format have shrunk steadily over the past two decades, with particularly steep drops in South Africa and the West Indies. The question of long-term financial sustainability for traditional Test cricket has become an increasingly urgent topic of discussion among global cricket governing bodies in recent years.

On the field, Australia claimed a convincing 214-run victory in the first Test, putting them in a position to seal the series with a win in the second Test, which kicks off Sunday in Gqeberha. The Australian tour marks the first time the side has returned to South Africa since the 2018 sandpaper ball-tampering scandal that disrupted cricketing relations between the two nations.

Following their disappointing opening defeat, South Africa’s coaching staff have made significant changes to their squad for the second Test, adding hard-hitting batsman Matthew Breetzke at the expense of out-of-form Tristan Stubbs, who notched scores of 32 and 1 in Durban. Wicketkeeper Kyle Verreynne retains his spot in the squad but will step back from wicketkeeping duties, with Ryan Rickelton set to take over gloves. Breetzke and uncapped batsman Marques Ackerman are expected to slot into the top order in place of Stubbs and Verreynne.

Breetzke, 27, earned the nickname “Aussie agitator” earlier in the tour after he drew the ire of Australian players when he took a single after a throw rebounded off his body during a one-day international, where he scored a century. South Africa head coach Shukri Konrad admitted Breetzke’s competitive temperament was a key factor in his call-up. “The attitude and character that Matt brings and has, I think that will go a long way,” Conrad said. While Breetzke has only notched 14 runs across three innings in two previous Test appearances and has not played a first-class match since February, he has posted an exceptional average of nearly 59 across 17 ODI matches to start his international limited-overs career.

South Africa face a must-win (or at minimum must-draw) match in Gqeberha to avoid having the series decided with one match still left to play. The 214-run loss was the first defeat for the Proteas in captain Temba Bavuma’s 13 matches leading the side. Pace bowler Kagiso Rabada, who missed the first Test while recovering from a hamstring injury, is widely expected to rejoin the starting line-up for the second Test.

For Australia, coaching staff are facing selection questions of their own as key players return from injury. Cameron Green (abdominal injury) and Josh Inglis (broken finger) were forced to miss the first Test, opening up a spot for Nic Maddinson – who played his first Test in 10 years, after 19 months out of first-class cricket while receiving treatment for testicular cancer. Maddinson’s inclusion forced Matthew Renshaw to move down to the number five batting spot, where he delivered a career-best performance, scoring 190 in the first innings and 82 in the second, while also picking up two wickets with his off-spin.

Australia head coach Andrew McDonald confirmed Green is progressing well in his recovery, while Inglis has resumed batting practice. If one or both players are cleared fit for selection, Maddinson is likely to be dropped from the starting eleven, with Renshaw moving back up to open the batting.

For the first time in history, the World Athletics Championships will touch down on African soil, and outgoing World Athletics President Sebastian Coe is framing the 2029 tournament in Nairobi as a transformative opportunity to build a lasting, multi-layered legacy for the continent.

Kenya’s capital secured hosting rights last month, beating out competing bids from London and Rome to break the mold for one of track and field’s most prestigious global events. The milestone comes four years after Kenya fell short in its bid for the 2025 Championships, a disappointment Coe says made this historic selection even more meaningful. In an interview with BBC Focus on Africa, Coe noted that every instinct around the decision pointed to expanding the sport’s footprint across Africa. “All our instincts – and certainly mine – was to have that opportunity to build our sport to an even higher level in the continent,” he said.

Coe emphasized that the legacy of the 2029 event will extend far beyond the closing ceremony. Beyond the tangible infrastructure gains of a newly upgraded competition venue, the tournament will cultivate critical local expertise and experience that will enable Kenya and other African nations to host more major international events in the future. “That’s the legacy of experience and expertise,” Coe explained.

The coming years will mark a busy period for Kenya’s sports calendar: the country will co-host the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations football tournament alongside neighboring Tanzania and Uganda, and the Kasarani Stadium – already undergoing renovations for the 2027 continental football event – will serve as the main venue for the 2029 World Athletics Championships. During a visit to Nairobi Wednesday where he met with Kenyan President William Ruto, Coe acknowledged that significant work remains to get the nation ready to welcome thousands of elite athletes and global spectators. He stressed that this note of caution is standard for any newly selected host city, given the enormous complexity of staging the World Athletics Championships.

The flagship event generates more than 90% of World Athletics’ annual revenue, funding that is critical to supporting global development programs, competition expansion, innovative new race formats, and grants for member federations around the world. Staged over nine days with 2,000 competing athletes across 46 different disciplines, the Championships require seamless cross-organizational coordination to deliver an optimal environment for athletes to hit peak performance – a priority Coe says remains at the center of all planning efforts. “Our overall objective must be to provide the best possible environment for the athletes, and the fans will appreciate it as well,” he added.

One key challenge that Kenya must address ahead of 2029 is its long-standing record of doping violations. Since 2017, more than 140 Kenyan athletes, the vast majority of them elite distance runners, have been suspended by the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU), the independent anti-doping body Coe established shortly after he first took office as World Athletics president in 2017. Earlier this month, World Anti-Doping Agency President Witold Banka told the BBC that Kenya must prove it can host a “clean” World Championships to protect the sport’s credibility ahead of the tournament.

Despite these ongoing challenges, Coe says he is confident Kenya is already making meaningful progress to turn the tide on doping. He recalled successfully persuading the Kenyan government to increase funding for national anti-doping programs, investments that are already starting to deliver results. Coe noted that increased testing, improved funding, and more advanced anti-doping technology have naturally led to more violations being detected – a sign of progress, not failure. “If you want to catch fish, you have to go fishing,” he said. Over the long term, Coe projects that the number of doping violations will decline, pointing to already visible improvements in track and field events, even as challenges remain in road running competitions.

Coe’s third and final term as World Athletics president is set to conclude next year, bringing a close to a tenure that has prioritized expanding the sport’s global reach and strengthening anti-doping safeguards.

After more than three decades, Formula One is set to make its long-awaited return to the African continent, after Rwanda finalized a decade-long contract to host the newly named African Grand Prix, marking a historic milestone for global motorsport that has already sparked both celebration and heated debate.

The inaugural race will take place on a custom-built permanent circuit in Bugesera, a region located just 25 miles south of Rwanda’s capital city Kigali, with the first event scheduled to kick off in the early 2030s. Exact calendar placement and a confirmed launch year have not yet been finalized, with F1 organizers currently working to avoid the country’s heavy March-to-May rainy season, which would disrupt track conditions and event operations. Designed by a team that includes former F1 driver Alex Wurz, the new track will leverage Rwanda’s dramatic natural terrain, incorporating nearly 200 meters of elevation change to create a technically challenging course that tests driver skill unlike many modern flat circuits.

For Rwandan President Paul Kagame, hosting the first African F1 race in a generation is far more than a one-off sporting event: it is meant to open the door for more Grands Prix across the continent. Kagame called the selection “an honour and privilege” for Rwanda, noting that the landmark partnership represents a long-overdue victory for the entire continent and millions of African F1 fans who have long been shut out of top-tier motorsport. While South Africa had actively pursued its own F1 comeback bid after hosting 23 Grands Prix between 1962 and 1993 (the last African F1 race to date), South African Sports Minister Gayton McKenne congratulated Rwanda on its win, while affirming that his country still aims to secure its own race before 2030, pointing out that Italy already hosts two F1 events annually, so a 54-nation continent should have space for more than one.

Motorsport figures across the continent have largely welcomed the announcement, framing it as a catalytic opportunity to grow homegrown talent across all areas of the sport. Only one African driver has ever won the F1 Drivers’ Championship: South Africa’s Jody Scheckter, who took the title with Ferrari in 1979. Scheckter noted that high entry costs have long blocked emerging African drivers from accessing top-tier competition, a barrier that could not be overcome the way it was for early pioneers like himself, who built their own cars to cut costs. Still, other African motorsport professionals see the Grand Prix as a game-changer. Zimbabwean former Formula 2 driver Axcil Jefferies pointed out that for decades, aspiring African motorsport workers have had to leave the continent to pursue their dreams, but F1’s arrival will highlight the size of the global motorsport industry and inspire a new generation of young Africans to enter the field as drivers, engineers, mechanics, and team leaders. Kriya Gangiah, host of South African podcast *F1 Extra Africa Trackside*, added that the local presence of a Grand Prix will also boost engagement among African women, noting that more and more women are already building successful careers in the sport on the continent, and greater visibility will only accelerate that trend.

The race is a core part of Rwanda’s broader “Visit Rwanda” tourism strategy, which has already seen the country partner with top global football clubs including Arsenal, Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-Germain, and most recently Aston Villa, where it now serves as the main front-of-shirt sponsor. Rwanda has also prioritized hosting major international sports events in recent years, including almost every Basketball Africa League final since 2021 and the 2023 UCI Road World Championships – the first time the cycling event was hosted on the African continent. But the F1 announcement has drawn sharp criticism from human rights groups, who have repeated longstanding accusations that Rwanda is engaging in “sportswashing”: using high-profile sporting events to distract from and improve its global image amid an ongoing record of human rights abuses.

Rwanda’s neighbor the Democratic Republic of Congo has already filed a case against Rwanda at the International Court of Justice, accusing the country of violating international treaties on genocide prevention, racial discrimination, women’s rights, and anti-torture rules. Human Rights Watch has previously documented shrinking space for freedom of expression and political opposition in Rwanda. Felix Jakens, head of campaigns at Amnesty International UK, argued that “Rwanda is buying into the world’s biggest sports to polish its image and deflect from its appalling human rights record”, calling the 10-year “Visit Rwanda”-branded Grand Prix a major win for Rwandan authorities’ sportswashing efforts.

Rwandan government officials have repeatedly rejected these claims, framing them as a distraction from the country’s substantial social and economic progress in recent decades. Chief Rwandan tourism officer Irene Murerwa noted in December 2024 that hosting the Grand Prix will deliver widespread economic benefits that trickle down to all Rwandans, advancing the country’s goal of becoming a world-class tourist and business destination.

F1 and its governing body the FIA have also pushed back on criticism. FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem dismissed sportswashing claims as what “people say when they cannot get what they want”, adding that he does not care about the criticism. F1’s official statement on the announcement emphasized that the sport’s charter requires respect for internationally recognized human rights across all its operations, and that the Rwandan Grand Prix gives the organization an opportunity to bring F1’s unique passion to more than 100 million people across Africa, framing sport as an inherent force for good. But Jakens argued that F1’s commitments ring hollow, saying the organization should use its influence to push Rwandan authorities for human rights reform rather than lending its global brand to a public relations exercise.