Guides & explainers
Background reading on the rules, history and numbers of African football.
FIFA Eligibility Rules: How Footballers Choose (and Switch) National TeamsBirth, parents, grandparents and residency: how FIFA decides who can play for which country, and when a player can switch.Africa Cup of Nations History: From Three Teams to 24How AFCON grew from a three-team tournament in 1957 into Africa's biggest sporting event, with its most successful nations.Africa at the World Cup: Every Milestone from 1934 to TodayEgypt in 1934, Morocco's 1986 breakthrough, Cameroon in 1990 and the first African semi-final in 2022.CAF Zones Explained: UNAF, WAFU, UNIFFAC, CECAFA and COSAFAThe six regional unions inside the Confederation of African Football, their members and their tournaments.How Football Elo Ratings WorkA plain-English explanation of the Elo rating system we use to rank African national teams, and why it beats simple tables.Caps, Goals, Appearances and xG: Football Statistics ExplainedWhat counts as a cap, why goal tallies differ between sources, and how expected goals (xG) work.South Sudan National Football Team: The Bright Stars StoryAfrica's youngest national team: from independence in 2011 to CAF and FIFA membership and every match since.