Sports

One of Kenya's leading athletes says she wants to create a "safe place" for the next generation of female stars after starting the country's first girls-only running camp. As a junior, Mary Ngugi received her training and education at a…

In 1969, with a civil war raging, global football's biggest star arrived in Benin City as part of a visit that would change Nigerian football forever. Those involved still remember the occasion vividly. "It was all about Pele. Before…

The son of a fisherman, Christian Atsu never got caught in the trappings of fame. Humble beginnings meant the Ghana midfielder, who lost his life in the recent earthquakes that devastated Turkey and Syria, tried to use his success…

The road to the ring is rarely a straightforward one for boxers, while the path that leads away can often be perilous. Francis Ampofo is a man who fought his way from the streets of London, where he moved as a child from Ghana, to the…

Being one of the very first young black sporting superstars of the television era, Pelé drew the love and affinity of Africans across the continent. As decolonisation movements swept across Africa in the late 1950s and early 1960s, Pelé…

The first global football superstar made everyone smile and his tricks were never designed to diminish his opponent. For the generation born just after the end of the second world war, the emergence of the teenaged Pelé during the 1958…

Born in Spain but now at the World Cup with Ghana, the striker agonised over his decision to play for his parents’ birthplace There is a light in Kweku’s eyes. “This is just incredible, crazy,” he says. “You see it from the outside and…

England defender, fit again and raring to go, grew up on an estate where he witnessed a fatal arson attack and a suicide. Kyle Walker has had surgery on a ruptured groin but says he is now fit to challenge for a place in Gareth…

The Ajax playmaker discusses the recent, testy encounter with Brazil, interest from Everton and his country’s chances in Qatar. “He’s not better than me. He’s just a higher profile player, that’s all,” comes the retort. He is Neymar,…

Marathon runner Eliud Kipchoge believes he can get even closer to a possible sub-two hour marathon after narrowing the gap by 30 seconds when setting his recent world record in Berlin last month. The 37-year-old ran a time of two hours,…