To display this YouTube content, you must allow advertising and audience measurement cookies.

An extension on your browser appears to be blocking the video player from loading. In order to view this content, you must disable it on this site.

First modification: 05/05/2026 - 21:11

Sports – and especially football – have served as anesthesia for far-reaching political maneuvers. A political tool and a mechanism of social distraction. And although the phenomenon of 'sportwashing' is not exclusive to Africa, several leaders on the continent have been able to capitalize on the passion on the fields to reinforce their power, improve their image or divert attention from political crises. In this edition we analyze how football became an instrument of influence and political legitimacy in different African countries.

The news about sponsorship agreements between Rwanda and at least four football clubs in Europe once again brought to the fore the accusations against the African nation, already questioned for using sporting events as a way to divert attention from internal problems, a practice known as 'sportwashing'.

The term is an acronym of the English words 'sport', which translates sport, and 'washing' which means washing. And it is a practice that people, governments and institutions have carried out through financing sports organizations, purchasing players or athletes, and organizing events of this caliber in order to clear their reputation. This taking into account, according to the Cambridge dictionary, all the positive feelings that sport inspires.

But for experts, this term is debatable. According to Dr. Itamar Dubinsky, a professor in the African Studies program at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Israel, "there is a tendency to say that democratic countries do 'sports diplomacy,' while non-democratic countries do 'sportswashing,' as if they want to hide negative things."

In this edition of Africa 7 Days we review and analyze the cases that have emerged from the African continent.

📲Subscribe here to the France 24 channel on WhatsApp and access all the content to understand what is happening in the world.

Related keywords

The content you requested does not exist or is no longer available.