4 ways to celebrate Africa Day without leaving your home
4 ways to celebrate Africa Day without leaving your home
On May 25, people will celebrate Africa Day – a holiday of unity, freedom, and heritage. On this day, traditional music will play in the streets, flags will be raised, and millions of Africans will proudly remember the journey their continent has taken.
With the global betting company 1xBet, you can feel the festive vibe without even getting off the couch. Here are some ways to celebrate Africa Day at home.
Take Africa in You quiz and see how well you know continent
Who knows – maybe there's more of Africa in you than you think? Test your knowledge and awaken the lion of the savanna inside you! The quiz will help you learn more about the culture, history, and traditions of a continent that has so much to be proud of. Answer the questions, feel the connection, and get a bonus from 1xBet at the end!
Have mini movie night
Popcorn in hand and Wakanda Forever in your heart – what could be better than watching Black Panther? The movie is full of references to African cultures, from costumes to traditions. It's a great way to relax and learn more about Africa and its heritage at the same time.
Bet on sports
On this day, it's not just Africa that's celebrating – sports fans are too. On May 25, the Monaco Grand Prix will take place, Roland Garros kicks off, and Chelsea vs Nottingham Forest will battle for a Champions League spot. 1xBet shares Africans' love for sports and offers lots of great promos, including a 300% welcome bonus of up to 600,000 NGN.
Sign up on the reliable bookmaker's platform and start winning today!
Take virtual tour of Africa's museums
You'll be surprised how much interesting stuff you can find online: masks, musical instruments, and unique artworks. All this will help you feel the spirit of the continent and dive deep into Africa's special heritage. Maybe you'll even find the answer to one of the Africa in You quiz questions here.
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New York Times
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- New York Times
Row Z's end of season special: Gianni Infantino takes on Cristiano Ronaldo for the humility award
Welcome to Row Z, The Athletic's weekly column that shines a light on the bonkers side of the game. From clubs to managers, players to organisations, every Friday throughout the 2024-25 season we have brought you the absurdities, the greed, the contradictions, the preposterousness and the oddities of the sport we all love. We'll end on a high (low) note today with the Row Z 2024-25 Season Awards. Good luck Gianni, we're all rooting for you… Honourable mention: Al Nassr When a YouTuber named Abu Omar dared to do an innocent impression of supervillain Lionel Messi at the home of Cristiano Ronaldo, Al Nassr gave a calm and measured response. 'What happened yesterday inside the dressing room in terms of individual (irresponsible) actions is unacceptable by some people who do not appreciate the value of the party they represent, nor the place and entity that left it.' Runner-up: Chelsea If they weren't selling the women's team to themselves to help balance the books, or being busy compiling the most expensive football squad of all time so they could win a trophy having been pitted against part-timers and farmers, Chelsea were making a firm stand on racism. July 2024: Midfielder Enzo Fernandez was filmed singing an offensive song about France's black players, who included Wesley Fofana, after winning the Copa America with Argentina. Advertisement Fofana called it 'uninhibited racism'. He later accepted an apology from his team-mate and said he 'did not understand' what he was singing, with Fernandez making a sizeable donation to an anti-discrimination charity that Chelsea then match-funded. Fernandez also apologised in public with a post on social media. August 2024: Chelsea handed Fernandez the captain's armband. Winner: Manchester United What a season they've had! Some highlights… Sacking sporting director Dan Ashworth five months after spending £2.5million ($3.4m) to lure him from Newcastle. Sacking head coach Eric ten Hag and his staff (which cost them £10.4m) a few months after bankrolling Ten Hag's summer transfer spending to the tune of around £200m. And then spending another £11m hiring Ruben Amorim and his six coaching staff. No wonder they had to double some ticket prices for older people and kids, what with a leaky roof to fix as well. It's been a hell of a run for INEOS and Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who took over a football club sixth in the Premier League and have currently rooted them in 15th. At least the women's team reached the FA Cup final, not that Sir Jim was able to attend for the second season in a row, having earlier turfed the team out of their own training ground building and told them to use portacabins. Then there were hundreds of redundancies, the cancelling of free lunches and Christmas parties, the organisation of a barbecue to celebrate winning the Europa League (which didn't go too well). Oh, and they designed a new stadium that looks like a circus tent. It's important to remember the INEOS mantra at times like these: 'Best in class.' 'Morale will be driven by success on the pitch,' Ratcliffe predicted in December. 'We want people here who are either happy or unhappy on a Monday morning depending on what happened at the weekend.' How's that going? Well, United were last seen throwing their goalkeeper up for a corner in stoppage time during a 1-0 defeat to ASEAN All-Stars. Club morale might need checking on. Runner-up: Cristiano Ronaldo During a discussion about who the greatest footballer of all time might be, Ronaldo's response was unequivocal. 'I believe so, sincerely,' he said, when naming who he think is the best player to ever kick a ball in the history of the sport. 'I've never seen anyone better… I say it from the heart,' he added, before calling the individual concerned, 'the most complete player that's ever existed, in my opinion'. Advertisement Who was he talking about? Pele? Diego Maradona? To be honest, there's no need for a punchline — you know the answer. Winner: Gianni Infantino But the winner has to be our Gianni, the man who has been the driving force behind the upcoming FIFA Club World Cup. The tournament promises to be a roaring success – Robbie Williams is going to sing at it and he said it's going to be 'massive'. The tournament will determine once and for all who is the best club team in the whole world. Well, except it won't feature the current best team in England (Liverpool), because they're not invited. Neither are the second-best team in England (Arsenal). Or the current best team in Spain (Barcelona). Or in Italy (Napoli), come to think of it. Anyway, Austria's third-best team (Red Bull Salzburg) will definitely be there, as will Inter Miami, despite them having never won the MLS Cup. Ronaldo might be crowbarred into the competition too, as Gianni told a lad on YouTube last week. So, all told, if you want a ticket for the final, £1,795 to sit in the lower bowl feels like decent value. Anyway, seeing as Gianni has planned it all, it's only fair that his name is engraved on the FIFA Club World Cup trophy (not once, but twice), including a line which says the tournament was inspired by him. We can't wait. Honourable mention: Jhon Duran, who posted a West Ham 'Irons' emoji on Instagram when being linked with a move from Aston Villa to the London Stadium in the summer, then flirted with Bayern Munich after scoring against them by calling them 'the club of my dreams', then signed a new contract with Villa and then fell in love with Al Nassr for a reported 320,000 reasons every week. Winner: Jurgen Klopp to Red Bull. 'I'm a football romantic,' Jurgen Klopp told Marca in 2017. 'I like tradition in football and all that stuff.' All that stuff. Winner: UR Cristiano If you're lucky enough to be one of Ronaldo's 75 million subscribers (sorry, siuuuubscribers… this is genuinely a thing) on YouTube you'll have enjoyed the following videos (again, these are genuine titles): The highlight, though, was undoubtedly an interview with his old mate Rio Ferdinand, during which Ronaldo referred to himself in the third person on no fewer than 10 occasions. During an intense Frost/Nixon-esque grilling about how great Ronaldo is, the subject turned to the thorny issue of Saudi Arabia and its 'issues'. Would Ronaldo use the opportunity to highlight horrendous acts of violence and oppression taking place in his new favourite country? Let's find out… Ronaldo: 'It was very easy for me (to decide to move to Saudi). We can speak about religion or the weather, but no country is perfect.' Advertisement Ferdinand: 'It's interesting what you said that no country is perfect. That's exactly what I was thinking when I saw you go (in 2022)… a lot of the western world are pointing the finger saying negative stuff, I'm like: 'Are we that good?' Everyone has problems but it's about facing the problems and taking a step forward.' Ronaldo: 'For me, all the countries have their issues, it's normal.' They're just normal men. Anyway, to be fair to Ronaldo it was probably for the best that he held back on any negativity given that, according to Amnesty International, people who are critical of the regime are imprisoned and even sentenced to death. Siuuuuuuu! Thomas Tuchel was appointed as England manager and the Daily Mail and Danny Mills took it well. 'A DARK DAY FOR ENGLAND' screamed the Mail, while adding: 'Now we have a gun for hire who owes us nothing and will pass through our game with a huge cheque and no connection to the fans or players. 'We are the laughing stock of the world game.' Meanwhile, Mills just said what we were all thinking: 'Often we see him in a hoodie and a cap on the sidelines, will that be his managerial stance as England manager? That's not really something we're used to, it's always a suit, effectively, and looking very, very smart.' Hull City sacked Tim Walter with the club third bottom of the Championship, which seemed fair enough, but the timeline of events was truly glorious. 6.37pm on Tuesday: Hull's owner, Acun Ilicali, said live on BBC Radio Humberside before the home match against Sheffield Wednesday: 'I would never put the blame on Tim. I'll put the blame on me too.' And the key question: 'If you were to lose tonight, would Tim still be in a job?' Ilicali: 'Yes, he will be in the job. If we lose tonight, he's going to be in the job.' Advertisement 9.39pm: Final score, Hull City 0-2 Sheffield Wednesday. 5pm on Wednesday: He sacked Walter. It was the final year at Goodison Park and Everton wanted fans to share their memories of the grand old place on social media. However, at the time, the team were heading for yet another relegation scrap and, well… — Mr Robot (@bittertoffee) September 1, 2024 — 𝗣𝗘𝗗 (@PED7) September 1, 2024 Still, all's well that ends well… Turns out me and flares dont mix too well — James (@Jab0702) May 19, 2025 When Chris Smalling was playing for Manchester United or Roma, he tended to tweet pretty generic pictures of himself from matches he'd played in. Then he went to the Saudi Pro League and was just so impressed by the future of urban living that he had to tell everyone about it. 'Can you tweet something like…' THE LINE A cognitive city stretching across 170 kilometers, from the mountains of NEOM across desert valleys to the Red Sea. A mirrored architectural masterpiece towering 500 meters above sea level, but a land-saving 200 meters wide. Unique solar and wind advantages for 100%… — Chris Smalling (@ChrisSmalling) September 22, 2024 And finally…. Even the pros get it wrong from time to time… 🫣😂#EFL | #SkyBetLeagueTwo — Sky Bet League Two (@SkyBetLeagueTwo) November 17, 2024
New York Times
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Did Conference League victory signify a coming-of-age moment for Chelsea?
Chelsea's Europa Conference League triumph on Wednesday night was a landmark moment for the club. Not only did they become the first team to claim all of UEFA's major trophies, but it was also their first major honour since the BlueCo takeover in 2022. The win also capped off a pivotal week, coming just three days after Chelsea secured Champions League qualification with a 1-0 victory away at Nottingham Forest — ending their two-year absence from Europe's top competition. Advertisement Together, both achievements signalled the most significant progress the club have made under their new ownership. On the latest episode of The Athletic FC Podcast, Ayo Akinwolere was joined by Simon Johnson and Tomas Hill Lopez-Menchero to discuss whether Wednesday night's victory marked a coming-of-age moment for this young Chelsea side. A partial transcript has been edited for clarity and length. The full episode is available on YouTube below or in The Athletic FC Podcast feed on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Ayo: Simon, let's talk about Enzo Maresca, because the Conference League was the cherry on top for Chelsea after securing Champions League football. I don't think many people saw them qualifying for the Champions League, but now they've also won a trophy. How big were these last two victories for Maresca? Simon: I don't think it's just about the last two games, the last six weeks were massive for Maresca when you consider he was under a lot of criticism from all quarters, perhaps no more so than the fan base. Everyone recognised that Chelsea's run-in for the Champions League positions was the toughest, and very few said they were going to do it, and I probably have to count myself as one of them. Ahead of the last two games, I had genuine concerns, hence why I wrote a piece about Chelsea's dismal away form. I thought they would lose both games against Nottingham Forest and Real Betis and be back in the Conference League, and part of me was fearing it for my own sanity. As much as it's been fun to cover this competition, anyone who's covered Chelsea or supports Chelsea is used to more glamorous games in Europe. Obviously, you take what you can get, but it came to the point where enough was enough, and everyone wanted to be back at the big boys' table. So it's huge for Maresca. Advertisement From what I've been told, he really drummed home the message after the Forest game and in the build-up to the final, of the team continuing to push. You might say that's stating the obvious, but he wanted two wins out of two. He wasn't thinking, 'We've qualified for the Champions League, so it's OK if we lose the Conference League final now.' I think he recognised how significant this could be for the group. When I asked him after the game in the post-match press conference about how significant the last six weeks have been for this group going forward into next season, he talked about the steel and how they've now found a way of winning ugly. And when you think about Chelsea in their pomp, we're talking about the Mourinho era and so on, as good as they were, they had this ability of winning ugly. I'm not saying that they're going to go on to win the Champions League and Premier League next season, but it's a significant step. And if they are going to go on and achieve those things, they're a step closer now than if they'd fallen short in either of those two must-win games. Ayo: Tomas, what do you make of how Chelsea have built their squad with such a focus on youth from an outside perspective? Because after the energy that went into that Nottingham Forest game and then coming into this, you could probably understand them being a bit tired and playing quite badly in that first half, couldn't you? Tomas: Yeah, the difference in the two halves was pretty stark, but when that young group of players suddenly all gelled in the second half, you really saw the makings of a good side. We were talking last summer about them signing so many players at once and having so many players. But now when you look at that starting 11, there are lots of players there who haven't even reached the prime of their careers yet, and that's a really exciting prospect for Chelsea fans. There was also that stat about how it was only the second time in a UEFA final that a team had started without a player aged 27 or over. And again, for fans that is really exciting because you want those young players who have this huge potential ahead of them. So I'm sure it's an exciting time to be a Chelsea fan. Advertisement Ayo: Was it a coming-of-age moment for Chelsea, Simon? Simon: I think they would believe that, but there's still a lot for them to prove. The club actually acknowledged that there's a lot of work to do to get to the next level. But the combination of the Premier League run-in and adding a trophy to the cabinet proved to themselves that they are actually making strides. It showed they are a team on the up, and some of the negativity surrounding them has to be lifted off their shoulders now. But, of course, this is Chelsea, so if they lose a couple of games early on next season, it'll be 'Maresca Out,' and you'll be getting me on here to talk about where it's all going wrong. Let's also not forget that the Club World Cup is going to have a huge impact, and there are genuine concerns over player fatigue. Maresca has already said, 'We could get more injuries next season.' So I don't think that should be underestimated. But when you think they've got players like Estevao Willian coming in, who's the exciting young talent from Brazil, Chelsea do look in good shape. They've been accused of having no plan, but now people are starting to see that there may be something in this. Of course, the best is still to come, because they haven't invested over £1billion in players to win Conference Leagues and finish fourth, they want the big prizes. So until they do that they'll still be questioned, and quite rightly so. But some of the scrutiny has been taken away, for now at least. You can listen to full episodes of The Athletic FC Podcast for free on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, and watch on YouTube. (Top Photo:)
Los Angeles Times
2 hours ago
- Los Angeles Times
‘We know what's at stake': LAFC braces for shot at Club World Cup
LAFC has won an MLS Cup and played in two CONCACAF Champions League finals. None of those games were worth as much as the team's upcoming match. Literally. Next up for LAFC is the $10-Million Game, in which it will play Mexico's Club América on Saturday at Banc of California to determine the final entrant in the Club World Cup. The 32-team tournament, which will be staged across the United States from mid-June to mid-July, has a record-breaking billion-dollar prize pool. By simply qualifying for the event and playing in three group-stage matches, LAFC would be entitled to a participation fee of $9.55 million. That might not be considered a significant prize for the Dodgers or Lakers, but it's a major bounty for LAFC, which had a payroll of about $20 million last season. 'We know what's at stake,' LAFC co-president John Thorrington said. Imagine that, a Major League Soccer team playing a game with real consequences. The stakes are unusually high for a team in a league in which 18 of 30 teams reach the postseason and the threat of relegation is non-existent. Real money will be on the line. That's money that could go toward covering the transfer fee or salary of the team's next signature player, as one of LAFC's three designated-player slots could open this summer. Thorrington preferred to emphasize the symbolic importance of LAFC reaching the Club World Cup, how it would move the team one step closer to its long-stated ambition of becoming a global brand. 'The conversation here is not dominated by the financial benefit here, but rather the competitive opportunity that this game and the tournament present,' Thorrington said. If LAFC advances to the Club World Cup, its opening game will be against Chelsea of the English Premier League. The other group-stage games would be against ES Tunis of Tunisia and Flamengo of Brazil. 'I think it would be something special,' defender Eddie Segura said in Spanish. The tournament could also be a wake-up call for MLS, which has two other teams in the competition in Inter Miami and the Seattle Sounders. The league has a salary cap, as well as paint-by-numbers roster compliance rules that permit minimal flexibility on how its teams can spend money. Soccer is a sport in which teams are only as good as their weakest links, but the regulations force clubs to construct top-heavy rosters. As it was, the financial restrictions were already handicapping MLS teams in its competitions against its Mexican counterparts, with LAFC relying on its smarts instead of the economic might of its deep-pocketed owners to reach two Champions League finals. Now, MLS teams will be taking on opponents with virtually unlimited budgets. Just two years ago, Chelsea spent more than a billion dollars buying players in a single transfer window. The Club World Cup's cash prizes offer MLS a powerful incentive to loosen its rules. Group-stage wins are worth $2 million each. Teams will be paid $7.5 million for reaching the round of 16. The champion will take home more than $100 million. The payouts could also force MLS to make changes to its collective bargaining agreement, which was signed when the Club World Cup was still a seven-team tournament. Under the current CBA, LAFC's players would divide $1 million, with the remainder of the $9.55 million participation fee staying with the club. Segura said the players are engaged in talks over their compensation. 'The club would benefit a lot, but I hope that we as players, as the ones who are there giving everything, will also have a chance to benefit,' Segura said. The upcoming game has also offered LAFC a firsthand view of FIFA's operations. LAFC's and Club América's opportunity came at the expense of León, which was removed from the Club World Cup field because it was owned by the same group that owned another Mexican team in the tournament, Pachuca. León qualified for the tournament by defeating LAFC in the 2023 CONCACAF Champions League final. Rather than award León's place to LAFC, FIFA basically invented a play-in game out of thin air, calling on LAFC to take on Club América, which was the region's highest-ranked team that wasn't already in the tournament. LAFC was at least granted a chance. The Galaxy won the MLS Cup last season, but Inter Miami received the place reserved for the host nation before the MLS playoffs even started. The purported reason was that Inter Miami had the league's best regular-season record. However, the widespread suspicion was that FIFA wanted Lionel Messi in the tournament. After all, money is what is driving this tournament and money is what is driving the sport.
