This series of short clips documents the sport of football’s effect on the lives of the inhabitants of the world’s second most populous continent. Not the Africa of poverty and conflicts but the capable and empowered Africa as shown in Football Made in Africa. This is grassroots portrait of a continent that lives, thrives and draws inspiration from football!

Every episode offers an original angle on a story, a slice of everyday life, in a place where football is present everywhere. From the production of goals in the outskirts of Maputo to the atmosphere in bars where matches are aired on tiny TV screens, the harvesting of rubber tree waste to make balls or the beaches of Cameroon where fishermen use their nets to create goals for aspiring local strikers. The films are funny, quirky and poetic snapshots that reflect the unique imagination and energy of the African continent.

Football Made in Africa demonstrates all the creativity and dynamism of the peoples more than happy to employ a fair amount of toil and ingenuity on a daily basis to be able to indulge in their passion.

In many ways, the program is a canvas on which African society is painted. The different episodes are the colors, applied one by one, to produce a dynamic picture of today's diverse Africa.

With the 2010 World Cup in South Africa just months away, it seems only natural to explore, not just how football is woven into African society, but of how the way the sport is played in itself reflects african cultures.

Watch a clip here (WMV file) 90 secs

2009-2010
Take Five