By Nathanael Simbilyabo
The World Cup is supposed to be about football. However, as we know by now, every World Cup develops a second tournament running alongside the football itself, a competition for the strangest headlines, the most unexpected controversies, the most dramatic off-field moments and the unforgettable stories of the fans.
This year’s tournament has been no different.
For a competition which is supposed to be about strikers, defenders, midfielders, football rivalries and of course goals, there has been unusually much talk about visas, airport security, and travel restrictions.
Let’s start with the Somali referee Omar Abdulkadir Artan who travelled to the United States expecting to officiate at football’s biggest tournament and make history as Somalia’s first World Cup referee. Instead, he was denied entry despite carrying FIFA accreditation, turning him from a match official into one of the tournament’s biggest talking points.
Artan was not the only person whose World Cup experience was affected by immigration issues. Ghana midfielder Thomas Partey was also unable to join the Black Stars for their opening match after Canada denied him entry because of an ongoing legal rape case in the United Kingdom. The decision sparked debate among supporters and shifted attention away from football, with many fans discussing visas and border policies instead of tactics and team selection.
Still on travel, photos that showed teams of three African countries, Senegal, Ivory Coast, and DR Congo arriving in traditional attire, customised outfits and eye-catching designs spread across social media, bringing endless debates about which country brought the most style to the tournament.
Africa is represented by a record 10 national teams, with some returning to the World Cup after long absences, like DR Congo, whose last appearance was in 1974, when the country was still called Zaire. Now, you would expect Africa to rally behind all African countries representing them, right? Well, this has not been the case for some of the nations.
It has been shown that political disagreements, immigration disputes and regional rivalries can easily determine who supports you or not. One viral image circulating online showed an African map jokingly choosing to support Mexico against South Africa and Brazil rather than Morocco.
So far, the tournament is not just producing football stories, but it is producing stories about people. Just look at the Cabo Verde goalkeeper who has shown what one can do to move from tens of thousands of followers to tens of millions in just three days. Vozinha (Josimar José Évora Dias) did a superb job of blocking Spain’s attempts to score, making him a star not only on the pitch but on the gram. On Monday June 15th, he had 50,000 followers. By Thursday June 18th, the number had almost supersonically shot up to 13.8 million. Talk about influence.
As the tournament now advances to see countries play their second matches, we shall be waiting to see what other exciting, funny, touching, annoying, and ridiculous things happen off the pitch.
