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African soccer clubs dream of Super League riches

Source: Quartz, 15/08/2022

An estimated 1.5 million people visited Birmingham, the UK’s second largest city by population, to cheer on the 72 nations and territories that participated in this year’s Commonwealth Games, which ended on Aug. 8. The 13 African nations that won at least one medal at the games did not stand on the podium as often as Australia, Britain, and Canada�`the three countries that finished at the top of the ranking�`but many of the continent’s athletes made history.
Finishing 7th on the medals table, Nigeria was Africa’s standout performer and had its best-ever outing at the games with 35 total medals�`12 of them gold, all won by female athletes. In one of the highlights of the games, Nigerian women won the 4 x 100m event for the first time. Tobi Amusan, one of the runners in that race, built on her new status as the world’s fastest-ever female hurdler to add more stardust to a spectacular year.
South Africa (7), Kenya (6), Uganda (3), Cameroon (1), and Zambia (1) were Africa’s other gold medal nations at Birmingham. At 19 years of age, Zambia’s Muzala Samukonga was one of the youngest gold medalists at the games. Samukonga collapsed after crossing the men’s 400m finish line, requiring a wheelchair to leave the track. Still, he was an example of the excellence of African youth and the continent’s potential to include world-class athletes in global competitions. It won’t be long before we get another chance to celebrate him and Africa’s champions�` the 2024 Summer olympics in Paris are less than two years away.
Fixing the economy must be a top priority for Kenya’s new president. Kenyans voted in an election marked by rising inflation, unemployment, corruption and a huge public debt. Faustine Ngila writes a job description for the new president.
Nigeria teased an Ecowas exit. The country’s lawmakers denounced a staff recruitment exercise that didn’t include Nigerians, leveraging the union’s dependence on Nigerian funding to demand a redress, Alexander Onukwue reports.
Jumia is delivering packages faster. Africa’s leading e-commerce company said it delivered 60% of its customers physical packages within the first 24 hours of order placement. Alexander Onukwue covers other highlights of the company’s second quarter report.
Africa got ready to cash in on soccer. Move over, European Champions League, it’s time for Africa’s clubs to take center stage and earn a cut of all that sponsorship money. Alexander Onukwue looks at the launch of Africa Super League.
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