Saturday, 21 May 2022
Alex Čizmić is a multilingual freelance journalist based between Italy and Bosnia and Herzegovina. He writes about the Balkans from a socio-political perspective, as well as everything football.
The gifted player chose financial security over European fame by playing in the Gulf. It’s a route many Tunisian footballers take, with experts saying it is to the detriment of the national team.
Africans who have built their lives in Ukraine over many years reflect on their experiences in their adopted country, and what was waiting for them as they fled to Poland to escape the war.
Adored by fans around the globe, they have no truck with prejudice of any kind, including racism and homophobia. And while the game makes capitalists drool, they shun greedy sponsors.
Even though he has just taken the Nzalang Nacional to the Afcon quarterfinals after they failed to qualify for the previous two editions, Juan Micha has no plans to rest on his laurels now.
Tunisian clubs are among the most feared and successful sides in Africa, but the national team have won the Afcon just once.
A disappointing conference in Italy where the youth was supposed to give input on proposals for COP26 has not dampened the fighting spirit of these campaigners for change.
Lamont Marcell Jacobs is an unlikely star to take over from Usain Bolt. But those who have been following his and Italy’s athletics progress weren’t surprised that they won Olympic gold.
The sporting world is waking up to how the country’s authoritarian leader, who supposedly loves the beautiful game, is using it to hide his utter contempt for people from the LGBTQIA+ community.
There is little hope for settling the age-old conflict, despite recent moves to resume talks between the Spanish and Catalan governments over the future of the region.
Spain has become the fifth country in the world to legalise euthanasia, with a strict three-step evaluation that protects patients and doctors. The Right, however, is vocally against it.
Desperate footballers have pleaded with the warring factions in Pakistan’s football federation to put players and supporters’ interests ahead of their egos.
The heart of two of the national teams playing in the Uefa European Championship is Albanian, owing to the vast number of ethnic Albanian players scattered throughout Europe.
The Comoros Islands, with limited financial means and personnel, defied the odds to book a ticket to Cameroon for the Afcon. Those who were there explain how they did it and share their plans for the future.
Despite legislation, far-right politicians and religious organisations have entrenched ways to deny women their right to an abortion and shame those who do terminate a pregnancy.
In a regularisation drive fraught with irregularities, migrants who work in Italy face an uncertain future as they struggle in applying for special permits that are arbitrarily issued.
Epoque, Awa Fall Mirone and Chimera Labruna use rap, reggae and a Babel of languages to explore their African origins and Italian identities while amplifying suppressed women’s voices.
A diverse group of people, including a South Africa-born Brit and a Sri Lankan, are among those working to advance cricket as a sport in Italy. But there are plenty of sticky wickets in their path.
Migrants have been getting stuck in the Balkan country for the past three years as they attempt to reach Croatia, the new gateway to Europe, but the EU is failing to provide for those living in limbo.
Neapolitans braved Covid-19 restrictions to mourn Diego Maradona, the man who took the city from earthquake ruins to a seat at the highest table in Italian and European football.
Two decades of eroded national health expenditure and privatisation played a role in the country’s struggle with the virus. Now, citizens demand answers in the face of a second wave of infections.
Then under French control, the founders stood up to the authorities to create the first Tunisian football club managed by Tunisians. They have weathered many storms since to reach a century.